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US Forces Pull Out of Saudi Arabia
BBC News ^ | April 29, 2003 | BBC News

Posted on 04/29/2003 11:11:32 AM PDT by Angelus Errare

The United States has said that virtually all its troops, except some training personnel, are to be pulled out of Saudi Arabia.

The decision was confirmed by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a joint news conference with Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan.

Both men stressed that there were no differences between their countries and their co-operation would continue.

Ever since the 1991 Gulf war, the US has had about 5,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia - a figure that rose to 10,000 during the recent conflict in Iraq.

The BBC's Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says this is a strategic shift of great political as well as military significance.

Technically US troops there have been part of Operation Southern Watch, which has enforced the no-fly zone over southern Iraq set up after 1991.

But our correspondent says the US troops have become a potent symbol of Washington's role in the region, and many Saudis see them as proof of the country's subservience to America.

Saudi Arabia is home to some of Islam's holiest sites and the deployment of US forces there was seen as a historic betrayal by many Islamists, notably Osama Bin Laden.

It is one of the main reasons given by the Saudi-born dissident - blamed by Washington for the 11 September attacks - to justify violence against the United States and its allies.

But news of the US pull-out does not mean the campaign is over for Bin Laden and his followers, according to the BBC's Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi.

Their agenda now goes beyond the boundaries of one country, he says. Their goal is to liberate all Muslim societies from foreign troops and what they see as ungodly secular rulers.

The al-Qaeda leader was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991 because of his anti-government activities.

In other developments:

The US says it will deploy up to 4,000 additional troops to boost security in Baghdad

US forces in the Iraqi town of Falluja open fire on protesters, reportedly killing at least 13

The governor of Basra under Saddam Hussein has surrendered in Baghdad, according to the Iraqi National Congress.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US military confirmed that it was moving its air command centre from Saudi Arabia to the al-Udeid air base in neighbouring Qatar.

US Rear Admiral David Nichols said the Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) at the Prince Sultan base in Saudi Arabia would be closed by the end of the summer.

"We already have switched, as of yesterday (Monday)," Admiral Nichols said.

But, he added, the base would remain wired and could be used again if the US and Saudi Arabia decided it was necessary.

The CAOC was set up after the 1991 Gulf war in Iraq and was used to control the coalition air campaign in the latest conflict in Iraq.

Saudi refusal

Mr Rumsfeld - who is touring the Gulf region to thank US troops and regional allies - said the US was grateful for the "co-operation and support" provided by Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi defence minister said that, since US and British patrols over the Iraqi no-fly zones had ended, there was "no need" for the American forces to be there.

"This does not mean we have requested them to move," he said.

"The co-operation between our two countries was going on even before Desert Storm and it will continue even after the end of the war in Iraq."

In the run up to the US-led invasion of Iraq, the Saudis said they would not allow American planes to carry out air strikes from the Prince Sultan base without a UN resolution authorising war.

The Saudi refusal was reported to have created a rift between Riyadh and Washington.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: militarybases; qatar; saudiarabia; southernwatch
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Good riddance.

This should have been done a long, long time ago.

1 posted on 04/29/2003 11:11:32 AM PDT by Angelus Errare
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To: Angelus Errare
Good. Next, Germany.
2 posted on 04/29/2003 11:16:54 AM PDT by b4its2late (I don't mind the rat race, but I could do with a little more cheese.)
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To: b4its2late
Re: Next, Germany.

Agreed.

3 posted on 04/29/2003 11:18:31 AM PDT by ChadGore (Freedom is as natural as a drawn breath.)
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To: b4its2late
And South Korea. And let the ungrateful nations shudder with fear without our protection.
4 posted on 04/29/2003 11:19:58 AM PDT by epluribus_2
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To: Angelus Errare
We should take every last piece of equipment with us, and either move the buildings or blow them up, and plow over the land fields. I don't want those hate-mongering, have-it-both-ways bastards to be left with a single piece of American property or improvement and I agree: Germany next.
5 posted on 04/29/2003 11:21:16 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
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To: Angelus Errare
The problem is that now we have troops in Iraq, and the same whiners will use that as the reason for their murders.

I am no fan of the Saudi regime or anything but it's not as simple as "we shouldn't have had troops there in the first place". Our troops were there to prevent Saddam from taking over. That would have had bad effects too. Life is full of tradeoffs.

We are going to continue to have problems from some group of bigots or another as long as we have troops anywhere in the world that bigots care about. One approach to this problem is to advocate that we should defer to the bigots, do what they say, and pull our dirty infidel troops out of all such places. Bigots will be bigots, the murderers are always right.

There are other approaches, however. Such as recognizing when people make war against you, and fighting back. Thank goodness that's what we seem to be doing right now. I do fear for what will happen in the future, however, when there's a Democrat in the White House and we've still got troops in Iraq and some bigots decide to murder Americans over it.

6 posted on 04/29/2003 11:21:37 AM PDT by Dr. Frank fan
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To: Angelus Errare
Bin Laden achieves his goal. "See I told you if I confronted the paper tiger, it would run away."
7 posted on 04/29/2003 11:24:07 AM PDT by js1138
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To: Angelus Errare; b4its2late
Marine Bump.
8 posted on 04/29/2003 11:24:13 AM PDT by kellynla ( "C" 1/5 1st Mar Div '69 & '70 An Hoa, Viet Nam Semper Fi)
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To: js1138
The base is built in Saudi. We can take that sucker anytime. Better to build new facilities in the neighborhood. Hmm, wonder whose amenable to that idea right now? Hmmm.
9 posted on 04/29/2003 11:26:35 AM PDT by kinghorse
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To: js1138; Angelus Errare
Yeah. How is this not a win for Bin Laden? The infidels have been chased from the land of Mecca, the holiest of places to OBL and his buddies.
10 posted on 04/29/2003 11:27:05 AM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
If you believe Bin Ladin, then all reasons for Al-Qaeda terror is gone. Bin Ladin's fatwas state that he conducted his reign of terror because of American troops on holy land.

I believe that was the pretext.

If Al-Qaeda should strike again (here's hoping never again) then Islamic fundamentalism will be revealed for what it is... an attack against the West because they have overwhelmed, overbourned, and overthrown Islam.

There is something to be said for that. Even though I doubt the liberals and those who are purposefully blind will ever understand the true motives behind the attacks of 9/11.

So, did Bin Ladin win? Yes and no. He won because we are gone. He lost because according to him he has no more reason to fight.

11 posted on 04/29/2003 11:33:05 AM PDT by carton253 (You are free to form your own opinions, but not your own facts.)
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
Well, once our people are all out of Saudi, it would really be too bad if the anti-Saud factions in Arabia did their worst and overthrew the regime.....
13 posted on 04/29/2003 11:35:10 AM PDT by CatoRenasci (Mesopotamia Delenda Est)
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To: Angelus Errare
Does that mean that my Prince Sultan Air Base t-shirt will be a collectors item?
14 posted on 04/29/2003 11:40:17 AM PDT by notpoliticallycorewrecked
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To: Angelus Errare
It has been said that some of the most advanced and sophisticated weapons systems paid for by the Saudis are installed and maintained there by us. I wonder what will become of them! I am sure no one else can maintain them.
15 posted on 04/29/2003 11:47:05 AM PDT by mikeIII
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To: Angelus Errare
"Both men stressed that there were no differences between their countries and their co-operation would continue."

Lies.

16 posted on 04/29/2003 11:55:31 AM PDT by Darheel (Visit the strange and wonderful.)
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To: Dr. Frank
The problem is that now we have troops in Iraq, and the same whiners will use that as the reason for their murders.

Iraq, whatever they feel about Americans, don't have the racist hatred of American troops being there. Many Saudis look at us as vermin, defiling their land just by being there. That gets them heated up.

17 posted on 04/29/2003 12:04:54 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: js1138
So how many troops should we waste in a strategically unnecessary deployment in an effectively hostile country just to make sure that Bin Laden (if he's alive) can't claim an implausible victory from whatever urine-sodden hellhole he's living in since we destroyed his government in Afghanistan?

It's not a win for Bin Laden because we crushed the Taliban and Saddam with relative ease and are now withdrawing the troops for our own reasons. The terrorists will undoubtedly try to spin this as a victory, but no one will believe them.

18 posted on 04/29/2003 12:18:19 PM PDT by The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
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To: carton253
He lost because according to him he has no more reason to fight.

I wish you were right, except we now have troops and bases in Iraq, and will for some time, and that land is "Arab land" or "holy land" (or some other bigoted construct) too.

The real problem here is that these people are bigots and they'll find some pretext or another to hate us, and kill us, as long as their societies are such failures and their lives are so pathetic. I wish it weren't the case but I expect us to suffer for their problems for quite some time, and there's no perfect solution.

19 posted on 04/29/2003 12:22:24 PM PDT by Dr. Frank fan
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To: The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
Do I need to label everything as sarcasm. Sheesh.
20 posted on 04/29/2003 12:22:47 PM PDT by js1138
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