Terrorists advancing Saudi agenda in Mideast: Scholar

Press TV has conducted an interview with Derek Ford, a scholar and professor from Philadelphia, on Saudi Arabia’s role in strengthening of terrorist groups inside Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Saudi Arabia is pounding Yemen, and we’re not seeing it target Daesh and al-Qaeda positions in the country, why is that?

Ford: I think quite clearly that is because the real agenda of the Saudi regime has nothing to do with defeating ISIL, to defeating the Takfiri sources in the region, and it has everything to do with advancing its own agenda for domination within the Middle East.

And that agenda is furthered and it’s deepened by the instability that Daesh and al-Qaeda forces have unleashed on the region.

And ultimately, I would argue, and I think that many observers would agree that ISIL is basically in an alliance with Saudi Arabia and is ultimately doing its bidding to destabilize and to overthrow any governments that oppose it or any governments that are allied with other governments that oppose it.

Press TV: So what do you think Saudi Arabia is pursuing in the Middle East, Derek?

Ford: I think that it has to be seen within the context of the recent changes in the power of forces within the Middle East. And in particular I think Saudis’ aggressive brutal war on Yemen has to be seen as a move against Iran.

The rise of Iran within the Middle East as a stable force, as a uniting force, as a force that many of the progressive governments in the Middle East, those who actually respect freedom and democracy unlike the Saudi government,...allied themselves in general with Iran. And Saudi Arabia is attempting to assert its own dominance in the region and its own repressive agenda. And I think ultimately that’s the context in which this war has to be seen.

Press TV: We’re seen the rise of ISIL happening before the watchful eyes of the world. And this world is supposedly in a fight and in a battle against ISIL. What does this tell us?

Ford: It’s a very contradictory situation, absolutely. And I think, to many people who don’t know the history of the region or the real agendas of the countries involved are very confused. But I would say that quite simply it is because most of the major players, the US, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East are not actually ideologically opposed to ISIL in any way.

And in fact, to the extent that ISIL has been instrumental in destabilizing Syria and attempting to overthrow the sovereign government of Syria, all of those countries have been absolutely one hundred percent supportive of ISIL.

Now, some of the contradictions begin to emerge when we see ISIL oversteps its boundaries and it begins to threaten the interest of the United States for example. And at that point the United States has to appear as if it is actually in a fight with ISIL or it has to attack some of ISIL’s positions.

Ultimately, I think that the agenda of the United States and of Saudi Arabia has been furthered through ISIL, and of course it’s been at the complete detriment of the people of the Middle East.

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