WASHINGTON — In a Nov. 29 Washington Post op-ed piece, the well-connected Saudi analyst, Nawaf Obaid, warned that the Kingdom would provide aid to Iraqi Sunnis if American forces withdrew from Iraq. The Saudi Press Agency quickly issued a statement from an unnamed ‘official source’ saying that Obaid’s op-ed ‘does not represent any official Saudi authority.’ Obaid’s op-ed had, in fact, stated that the opinions he expressed were ‘his own and do not reflect official Saudi policy.’ To underline the truth of that, the outgoing Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Turki al-Faisal, terminated Obaid’s consultancy with the Saudi Embassy. Yet despite this public repudiation, it has subsequently become apparent that Obaid’s views do reflect official Saudi policy, at least to some extent. The New York Times on Dec. 12 reported that Saudi King Abdallah told Vice President Cheney during the latter’s recent visit to Riyadh that the Kingdom, ‘might provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq’s Shiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq.’ In fact, this may already be taking place informally. The Washington Post reported (also on Dec. 12) that, ‘Young Saudi men have joined the Sunni insurgency as foreign […]