Posted on 01/18/2002 5:13:23 PM PST by StopDemocratsDotCom
Saudis tell US forces to get out ;Foreign soldiers seen as political liability
Saudi Arabia's rulers are poised to throw US strategy in the Middle East into disarray by asking Washington to pull its forces out of the kingdom because they have become a "political liability". Senior Saudi officials have privately complained that the US has "outstayed its welcome" and that the kingdom may soon request that the American presence - a product of the Gulf war - is brought to an end.
Both the White House and the US state department insisted yesterday that the military arrangement between the two countries was still working. The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said that the president, George Bush, "believes that our presence in the region has a very helpful and stabilising effect in a dangerous region".
Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally, have been severely strained since September 11. Both sides have been desperately denying for months that there is a rift.
The US is reluctant to withdraw its 4,500 troops from the Prince Sultan air base, south of Saudi's capital Riyadh, because it could be perceived as a propaganda victory for Osama bin Laden, who frequently protested at the presence of non-believers so close to the main Muslim holy sites.
But the increasingly brittle and vulnerable ruling House of Saud is nervous about an internal revolt by Bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network and other extremist militants, and has been publicly loosening its links with Washington.
The huge Prince Sultan air base played a crucial logistical role in the bombing of Afghanistan. Withdrawal would upset the military balance in the Middle East by providing a boost to the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. US planes based in Saudi regularly bomb along the Iraqi border as part of its policy of containment of Saddam.
Britain, which jointly patrols the Iraqi no-fly zone with the US, has planes based both in Saudi and Kuwait. A pull-out by Washington would switch the focus to the British air base in Kuwait, whose leaders try to avoid drawing attention to the British presence.
Two senior US state department officials have been in Saudi this week: William Burns, the assistant secretary for the near east, and Lincoln Bloomfield, the assistant secretary for political and military affairs.
The US state department insisted yesterday that at no point during Mr Bloomfield's visit, either formally or informally, had the Saudis said they wanted the US to leave.
But the US ambassador to Saudi, Robert Jordan, was quoted as saying when Mr Bloomfield arrived in the kingdom: "He is here for consultations with the Saudi government to review our presence here and to discuss what we need and what we don't need."
The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, who is in Nepal, denied the Saudis wanted a withdrawal: "There has been no discussion of such an issue."
Many in the US have been upset with Saudi because not only is it Bin Laden's native country but 15 of the 19 terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks were from the kingdom. The Saudi media have reported that about 200 Saudis have been captured in Afghanistan fighting with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
The kingdom is volatile, with a stagnant economy, high unemployment, no democratic outlets and King Fahd unable to crack down on militant clerics.
Hostility to the US is widespread but that is mirrored in the US where there is a huge well of resentment that, having fought to push back Iraq in 1991 and having protected Saudi since, Riyadh refused to provide military help during the Afghan campaign.
Reflecting this, Carl Levin, who heads the US Senate armed services committee, said: "We need a base in that region, but it seems to me we should find a place that is more hospitable."
Bin Laden listed as the main justifications for the attacks on New York and Washington the presence of the US soldiers in the kingdom, US support for Israel in the conflict with the Palestinians, and the US campaign against Iraq. He said six years ago: "There is no more important duty than pushing the American enemy out of the holy land [of Arabia]."
The US could continue its containment of Iraq from aircraft carriers based in the Gulf. But the US air force secretary, James Roche, said a pull-out would make life awkward: "It would be difficult, unless we could replicate the air operations centre somewhere else."
Two reasons were given by the "Saudi rulers" for the decision:
The American presence has become a political liability in domestic politics and in the Arab world, Saudi officials say. The Saudi government has also become increasingly uncomfortable with a role in U.S. efforts to contain Saddam Hussein, and earlier ruled out use of Saudi territory as a base for bombing raids on Iraq. As for the first reason, are the Saudis allying with Osama in the belief that a US presence in Saudi Arabia is a stain on Islam? They have never worried about public opinion in their own or other Arab countries before; it's why they have always been so tightly controlled. More likely, the US presence causes a split within the princes themselves, not the public, and this is causing some discomfort, especially among the younger, more radical set who are in the minority among their kin.
As for the second reason, any defense minister worth his salt in Saudi Arabia would recognize that a strengthened and emboldened Saddam will someday pose a threat to the survival of the monarchy. The notion that Saddam is no longer a threat reveals either a dangerous naivete or a desire to join Saddam in a jihad against the west. I'd be surprised if the upper echelons of Saudi government have gotten to this point yet.
For this reason, it's my totally speculative guess that this whole story came from mid-level people within Saudi who have a few friends of friends of friends who have heard that some of the princes are more radical than others, and hope to sway policy at some point in the future. Wake me when someone high up in Saudi government announces that we are no longer welcome.
Good Lord no! Let all the Saudi boys and girls do that! And the Iraqi boys and girls....and the Syrian boys and girls...and the Palestinian boys and girls....and....
Yeah, in A.D. 2035 and at $20.35 per quart!!! Get real, puleaze!!!
My grandchildren still believe in Santa Claus and the tooth fairies, yet far too many, maybe even including our fearless El Presidente, are CA dreamin a little too much!
The enviro-whackos, here in CA, supported by ENRON(END RUN) still believe we can run everything on Natual Gas even while there aren't anywhere near enough pipelines or capacity to get it here.
It is so hard for me to understand how even normally good conservative folks can be swept up in such un-economically feasible Bull Roar!!! It's exasperating!!! DO THE MATH!!!
The old king better wake up, I know he's pretty ill, but if he doesn't wake up he's going to find himself either dead or an ex-king.
Carter abandoned the Shah of Iran. The House of Saud can't possibly be so stupid as to volunteer for the same outcome. If the U.S. left, the first thing Saddam would do is take out the Islamic religious leaders because they would be his biggest threat.
Dear Saudi's, we have turned our answering machines on and will be out of town for quite some time. When Saddam stomps you into oblivion and takes posession of your castles only to turn them over to his ignorant relatives who will crap on the furniture, don't call.
Oh, that's right... Their own women and children.
Hehehe good one, Saber!
Same here. They're good for nothing, but surely not THAT stupid.
Feb 1: Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister Prince Nayef has said he expects to sign a security pact with Iran this month.Prince Nayef told the official Saudi Press Agency late on Wednesday that the pact should be signed before Haj.
"It is supposed to be signed before Haj and the signing will be in Tehran. I am waiting for our Iranian brothers to set a date," he said.
Saudi Arabia says the pact aims at fighting crime, terrorism and drug trafficking and should not be seen as a regional defence pact.
Iran opposes the deployment of US and Western forces in the region and is keen to sign defence pacts with its Arab neighbours. But Gulf Arab states, which look to the West for military support, have declined Iran's offer.
Saudi Arabia has moved faster than some other Gulf Arab states in improving ties with Iran after years of mutual suspicion that followed the 1979 revolution.-Reuters
Has anyone considered whether or not the Saudis and Iranians came to some sort of agreement regarding Iraq?
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