I pegged that whole "Desert Shield" and "Desert Storm" campaign as a complete fraud once I began reading all the stories of U.S. military personnel who were being ordered to hide any obvious religious symbols such as crosses, medallions, etc. while they were stationed in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. spent billions of dollars to protect the ruling royal family in a country like THAT? And this was to protect them from an Iraqi Ba'athist regime that protected its own Christian population and even included Christians in its leadership (Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz, for example, was a Maronite or Chaldean Christian)?
ROFL.
Yep, 9/11 changed my whole view on our “friends” the Saudis...I learned they know how to “keep their friends close, and their enemies even closer.”
That’s probably another good assessment, I wouldn’t disagree with it. I was pretty displeased with Bush the Elder for putting up with the Saudi’s demanding our compliance on those issues. We didn’t have to be there, and we shouldn’t have tolerated the insults for helping them out. But for the oil, we should have left them to their own devices.
But it’s easy to say that years later, from the comfort of our homes.