Posted on 03/13/2002 12:21:49 PM PST by knighthawk
The United States has begun re-thinking whether it should maintain its presence in the Saudi Kingdom.
Advanced by escalated security fears since the September 11 attacks on its cities as well as by restrictions the Saudi government has imposed on American military operations, U.S. commanders are re-examining their long time stay in Saudi Arabia.
According to a New York Times report from mid-March, citing senior US military officials, the Central Command, which serves as headquarters for Middle East operations, has prepared an extensive possible plan to move forces out of Saudi Arabia.
The plan, if implemented, would remove a state-of- the-art command post that has been the heart of the air war in Afghanistan from Prince Sultan air base, located south of the Saudi capital, and move dozens of US fighter planes, the officials say.
The leading candidate, according to the report, is Al Udeid air base situated in Qatar, which has vast hangars and 15,000-foot runways, amongst the longest in the Middle-East region.
However, according to officials, the contingency plan has not yet been presented to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Pentagon's civilian leadership, nor has it been reviewed with Saudi officials.
In addition, the report explains, ideas floated by Crown Prince Abdullah last month to help renew peace negotiations in the Middle East have shifted the focus away from strains in the military ties between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney is currently on an 11-country visit to the region, and it is still unclear whether he will raise the issue of the American military presence, except perhaps in the most general terms, when he visits Saudi Arabia during this week.
“The military relationship with Saudi Arabia doesn't work well when it gets a lot of attention,” said Anthony Zinni, who led the Central Command and is currently Washington’s special Middle East envoy to the region. “It has to be quiet. A number of things have happened since September 11 that have got us crossways in the relationship, and we should do major work to repair it”.
According to the report, General Zinni said he began planning for a decrease in the American military's dependence on Saudi Arabia while serving as commander of the American forces in the region during the 90’s. “I wanted to have some flexibility, so we didn't become totally dependent on one place,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to the NYT, more than a year ago, Lt. Gen. Charles Wald, when he was commander of air forces in the region, designed a preliminary plan to move the air-operations center and fighter aircraft from Prince Sultan air base to other Arab Gulf countries, other senior military officers said. According to the report, that would have left only unarmed refueling aircraft, reconnaissance and surveillance planes and AWACS warning and control planes in Saudi Arabia. However, the plan was put on hold in the aftermath of September 11.
The White House acknowledges that a change in the American military presence is required.
“Ever since the gulf war ended, we've been working to try to minimize the amount of time and size of the footprint that U.S. forces have in Saudi Arabia,” Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, said in January on CNN. “They've been asking a long time, and we've been working with them for a long time - not just during this administration but during previous administrations - to reduce the footprint”.
American military commanders who are for relocation of the American forces claim that a visible American troop presence weakens the Saudi royal family rather than strengthening it. “There's no doubt in my mind that much of our presence is destabilizing to the government,” said one senior military officer, according to the report. “The best thing we can do is to make a measured decrease in our presence. The dilemma we face is that if we leave right now, it looks like we're caving to Osama bin Laden's demands”.
The New York Times added that Saudis have placed restrictions on the US- led war on terror and described, citing an American official, that during the first day of the air campaign, Saudi Arabia did not allow American warplanes to fly through Saudi air space; an issue which was eventually solved, but still kept its marks.
Moreover, Saudi restrictions on launching bombing missions from the kingdom have forced American commanders to position attack aircraft in various Gulf countries rather than at one major base.
The Saudi government has barred the United States from launching airstrikes against Afghanistan from Prince Sultan air base. The United States is allowed to use the command post to direct the air war in Afghanistan, but only if the Pentagon “keeps quiet about it”. American commanders say they only request what they know the Saudis will approve.
The US continues to fly patrol missions over the southern area of Iraq from Prince Sultan to enforce sanctions against Baghdad. However, if American warplanes on routine patrol are fired on by Iraqi antiaircraft batteries, warplanes from Kuwait are those usually called in to retaliate.
The United States has no bases of its own on Saudi soil, and depends entirely on Saudi hospitality. A shipment of ammunition was held up for a few months. Furthermore, the report said, a supply of blood for American troops was trapped in the Saudi customs bureaucracy. At Eskan Village, the major military administrative and housing complex for around 1,500 Americans, the Ministry of Defense must approve every transaction.
However, according to the NYT, no one is suggesting that all 5,000 American troops leave Riyadh. The United States has operated a large training and advisory mission for some 50 years and its several Patriot missile sites protect the kingdom from outside attacks.
“I have talked to hundreds of senior officers,” said Maj. Gen. Michael N. Farage of the Air Force who is the chief of the United States military training mission and the senior American military official in the country. “We have lived in foxholes together. We have been on ships together. Their kids are in schools in the United States. They will say to us, ‘We trust and value you more than any of our other allies.’”
It should be noted that relocation would have disadvantages. Saudi bases played an essential role during the 1991Gulf war, and disrupting their use at this point in time could complicate any airstrikes against Iraq, officials said.
A U.S. official mentioned a few months ago that Washington vowed in 1990 to withdraw its representation from the Saudi Kingdom "when the job is done." Saudis, this official added, interpreted that to mean when Iraq leaves Kuwait, but many U.S. officials think the job remains undone as long as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remains in power in Baghdad.
Bump
Not, of course, that there are all that many of them but they seemed at that time at least to have credentials.
:Note to USMC vets, please don't rise in indignation, that's the way I remember it and if I'm wrong, so be it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.