[a_witness]

Editor's adjustment:

The Saudis have been engaged in a delicate balancing act, taking steps to preserve their long-standing alliance with Washington in a way that doesn't alienate local Islamic militants terrorists long opposed to the United States for its support of Israel, the former diplomat said.

The most notorious Saudi militant terrorist, of course, is Osama bin Laden, purported mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. One of his chief grievances is the presence of US forces - "infidels," as he sees them - on Saudi territory. Many of bin Laden's compatriots share his outrage.

Purported ? purported ??!!!

[truthandlife]

BUMP

[weikel]

Huh where are all the people who said I was crazy and wrong to urge attacking them now.

[aristeides]

After the Soviet withdrawal and the breakup of the Soviet Union, he said, many Americans urged the Saudis to continue their operations as a hedge against Russian expansion into the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.

"Many Americans," or the Clinton administration?

By the way, what was the reason for such hostility to the post-Communist Russians? Why regard them as a greater threat than Islamists who continually denounced this country and had already carried out the first WTC bombing in '93?