Professor Madawi Al Rasheed

One thing is certain. When a Saudi security consultant makes policy recommendations, he is anything other than an independent voice.

Such recommendations are often described by unnamed Saudi officials as only representing the views of the people who express them. This is exactly what happened after Nawaf Obaid’s recent reflections on the Iraqi crisis.

Obaid’s article in the Washington Post (29 November 2006) addresses an American audience that is increasingly sceptical about its own military adventure in Iraq and which is beginning to search for exit strategies (the latest being the report of the Iraq Study Group, published on 6 December).