From coverage of classified State Department documents exposed by WikiLeaks: “Iraqi government officials see Saudi Arabia, not Iran, as the biggest threat to the integrity and cohesion of their fledgling democratic state, leaked US state department cables reveal. …’Iraq views relations with Saudi Arabia as among its most challenging given Riyadh’s money, deeply ingrained anti-Shia attitudes and [Saudi] suspicions that a Shia-led Iraq will inevitably further Iranian regional influence,’ [Ambassador to Iraq Christopher] Hill writes [on September 24, 2009]. ‘Iraqi contacts assess that the Saudi goal (and that of most other Sunni Arab states, to varying degrees) is to enhance Sunni influence, dilute Shia dominance and promote the formation of a weak and fractured Iraqi government.’ ”
– Simon Tisdall, “WikiLeaks Cables: Saudi Arabia Rated a Bigger Threat to Iraqi Stability than Iran,” The Guardian, Dec. 5, 2010