Do you think we're giving into Al-Queda's demands?? I don't think we should be there if the population is that pissed about it. If they are, fine, we'll help another struggling economy. I think this is a great move and hopefully this and the Israeli-Palestinian roadmap will extinguish some of the Anti-American sentiment in the Arab/Muslim world. ============================================= S. Military Pulls Out of Saudi in Realignment 1 hour, 48 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Charles Aldinger RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was ending military operations in Saudi Arabia and removing virtually all its forces from the kingdom following the Iraq (news - web sites) war. In a joint announcement, Saudi Arabia said it had agreed the move with Washington. It denied press reports it had asked the United States to withdraw. The presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia generated Arab resentment because of their proximity to Islam's holiest sites. It was a major grievance exploited by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his al Qaeda network, blamed by Washington for the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities. U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia, which doubled to 10,000 during the Iraq war, had already started pulling out of a desert airbase used by U.S. planes since 1991 in their "Southern Watch" operation to police southern Iraq, U.S. officials said. Operations were being moved from the Prince Sultan airbase, used to control U.S.-led air strikes in the Iraq war, to the neighboring Gulf state of Qatar, where the U.S. Central Command has set up another air operations center, they said. The announcement, made during a tour of Gulf states by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld focused on reducing the U.S. military presence in the region, followed Riyadh's refusal to allow air strikes on Iraq by some 100 Saudi-based U.S. aircraft. "After the end of Southern Watch ... there is no need for them to remain," Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz told a joint news conference with Rumsfeld. "This does not mean that we requested them to leave." Rumsfeld told reporters after talks with the prince that the "liberation of Iraq" had changed the situation in the Gulf and allowed Washington to reduce its troops in the region. "The relationship between our two countries is multi-dimensional -- diplomatic, economic, as well as military-to-military," he told a news conference. LAUNCH PAD Political and defense analysts said the withdrawal from Saudi Arabia had huge political implications. The move effectively ends a relationship dating back to 1991 when Washington used Saudi Arabia as a launch pad for the Gulf War (news - web sites) to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait and then based warplanes at the desert airbase to police a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq. The presence of Western troops in the kingdom irked many Saudis already angry with the United States over its perceived bias toward Israel. Ousting U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia became a battle cry of bin Laden and his al Qaeda militants. "There are political advantages for both. The U.S. will have greater freedom of action, the Saudis will feel more comfortable -- and neither of them will have to mention that it was a key demand of Osama bin Laden," Tim Garden, security analyst at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, told Reuters. "It certainly means the United States is rid of a huge problem," Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, told Reuters in London. "There has been agitation for a very long time from inside Saudi Arabia. And it was one of al Qaeda's key demands as well for foreign forces to be removed from the holy ground of Saudi Arabia," Heyman said. CROWN PRINCE U.S. officials said a small number of U.S. personnel would remain in Saudi Arabia to train Saudi soldiers. The defense secretary later met Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah before he flew on to Kuwait, the next leg of his week-long tour. "They agreed to move on from here with continued cooperation in areas from training to regular military exercises," a senior Pentagon (news - web sites) official told reporters after the meeting. Rumsfeld has already held talks with leaders in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. He also plans to visit Afghanistan (news - web sites). Defense officials, citing security considerations, declined to say if Rumsfeld would go to Iraq. Saudi Arabia's ruling al Saud family faces U.S. and internal pressure to liberalize politically and modernize an Islamic education system which influential Americans say produced such militants as those belonging to al Qaeda. "It is very significant. It reduces America's dependence on Saudi Arabia and it throws open the opportunity for Iraq to become America's favorite base in the region," defense analyst Paul Beaver told Reuters in London. Paris-based defense analyst Francois Gere said Saudi Arabia was also entering a complex reorganization of its leadership. "There is less need both for Saudi territory and Saudi oil, but one should not exaggerate. I think the second message is 'we Americans are going to withdraw a bit from Saudi Arabia and let these people sort out their domestic problems'," he said.
I agree, this is a GREAT move. I also agree that some in the Arab world may see our withdrawal from Saudi Arabia as some sort of victory for Al Queda, but that is fine. Maybe some fanatic Islamists will be able to save face enough from this minor victory to call off their hopeless holy war against the United States, and they can turn their anger on the appropriate targets- Arab dictators.
I'm glad we are leaving Saudi Arabia. Just because Al Qaeda wants us out doesn't mean it's right to stay. It's best to do what's right even if some of our enemies think it's right too. Doing the right thing isn't a bad idea.
Good move except virtually all does not mean all. I think the US wants to keep a foot in the door just in case. I see that as a problem and I think the zealous Muslems will too.
You may be right, but I disagree. During Osama's lifetime, Americans have always lived in Saudi Arabia in significant numbers. It wasn't until we established an air base did the Islamists rise up.
Of course, I think that any really radical Islamic is going to find a reason to fight against the U.S. regardless of whether the U.S. provides a reason. It's just taking away something that is big and can be a rallying point for radicals to influence the otherwise-non-radical masses. Taking away something as big as an air base can make a big difference. I'm not sure that very limited U.S. operations in the area would be able to be used as the same type of rallying point. The radicals can always find a reason. It just takes more to get as many people on your side. We'll see how this works out.
To vaguely quote Sigorney Weaver,"I think we should bug out of here and nuke the site for morbid. It's the only way to be sure."
With a foot hold in Iraq we don't need troops in Saudi Arabia. Iraq is a better strategic location for our forces if you're trying to intimidate countries in the region.
Timing, you sure seem to love those Arab dictators. Apparently, they are "intimidated" because freedom is very infectious.
Oh I sure do. That's why I've advocated on these boards many times that we invade Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq. Because I just love dictators who spread wahabi fanaticism. Invading Iraq doesn't stop terrorism, they're not coming from Iraq. That's how stupid this war was. We attack a secular dictator while we prop a dictator who's breeding killers and fanatics. Clue Less
The quote is 'nuke the site from orbit' , its from orbit , not for morbid. BTW Aliens Is one of the greatest movies ever made.
It has now been proven that Iraq was supporting terrorist groups, including Al Queda, so you are obviously wrong on this point.
The irony of this quote is that Saudi Arabia is very close to a revolution to eliminate the ruthless dictators in power. Many, like Osama Bin Laden, saw the US troops as propping up and defending the Dictatorship against its own people. Now that they are gone, I wonder what will happen. So the question is do you disagree with the people, or the dictatorship that will probably be gone soon anyway??
The problem with any revolution is that it will be an Islamic revolution. That's why IMHO it's a more dangerous situation. People like Bin Laden have wanted the US out of the area so they can prop up Taliban like governments. Since Saudi Arabia is the source of the radicalism and the madrassas, they're really the first domino. You can't democratize the middle east while Saudi Arabia is operating as a radical supporting dictatorship or a new Taliban. That's how I see it anyway. Time will tell.
So let me see, you guys advocate going to war with a country that SUPPOSEDLY supports terrorism, and advocate leaving a country that produced most of the 9-11 terrorist, reasoning that our prescence feeds the furor of the fanatics. Yet our occupation is going to solve the problems in the supposed terrorist hot-bed.
Except that we plan on leaving Iraq eventually. It wasn't possible to leave Saudi Arabia while Saddam was still operating.
