[andyk]

We had forces in Saudi Arabia at their invitation because Iraq invaded Kuwait (another Muslim country) and threatened to move into Bin Laden's precious Muslim holy land.

That is true. However, we were not invited by Bin Laden - we were invited by the House of Saud. I am absolutely sure that you do not think that Bin Laden personally approved of our presence in Saudi. We were not attacked by the tiny, tiny minority of the House of Saud - we were attacked by the countrmen over which they rule.

I do not believe that you think the royal family cheered the attacks. I probably have to clarify that since there is a lot of heat on this thread - not because they like us, but because it is in their best interest to maintain a cordial relationship with their customer.

I only point this out because there seems to be some push back at Paul's point that one of Al Qaeda's complaints was that we were occupying the holy land of Saudi Arabia. It's a question of what their motivation was, not whether it's valid or not. Surely, we want to understand what the enemy is thinking.

[Longbow1969]

That is true. However, we were not invited by Bin Laden - we were invited by the House of Saud. I am absolutely sure that you do not think that Bin Laden personally approved of our presence in Saudi. We were not attacked by the tiny, tiny minority of the House of Saud - we were attacked by the countrmen over which they rule.

No, I was certainly not implying Bin Laden invited us, but the recognized and long standing government of Saudi Arabia did. Further, we had support from governments throughout the arab world for operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Why on earth would someone like Paul argue we should pay attention to what Bin Laden wants rather than the actual government(s) in the region.

It's a question of what their motivation was, not whether it's valid or not. Surely, we want to understand what the enemy is thinking.

I have no problem discussing and investigating what our enemy is thinking. It is perfectly clear Bin Laden turned his focus on us during that time period. But again, so what? Why on earth would we design our foreign policy around what fanatical terrorists think? Saudi Arabia was a long standing ally, as was Kuwait. We were invited in to prevent Iraq from rolling into Saudi Arabia, and to eventually expel Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait.

I do not believe that you think the royal family cheered the attacks. I probably have to clarify that since there is a lot of heat on this thread - not because they like us, but because it is in their best interest to maintain a cordial relationship with their customer.

I do not believe most of the Saudi leaders applauded 9-11. It's more than the fact we are customers, it's that these are status quo, filthy rich fatcats who don't appreciate their world being made more difficult. As to the sentiment of the Saudi people, I'd argue that perhaps a majority probably cheered 9-11 whether they admit it or not. But it's still more complicated than that. A LOT of people in many nations privately enjoyed seeing the big, bad United States getting its nose bloodied. When your the top dog, you just have to deal with that sort of thing.

There is a serious problem with Islamic extremism in this world. I have seen it first hand, and the arguments that it is all about Israel just aren't accurate (and are used mostly to isolate the Jewish state). Ron Paul has a very dangerous, naive view of the world - and I must say, his foreign and defense policy would put us in more danger than Obama's has.