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That means, either this report is wrong, or the Saudis are trying to provoke a showdown between the countries as a pretext for having American troops leave the country.

Obviously, a lot is going on behind the scenes. The Saudi's have not done all we wanted in the war on terror, and we are applying pressure to change that. We raised the stakes when we publicly changed the off-base attire rules for female members of the military.

I do not know what the behind the scenes response was, but this could easily be the public portion of the Saudi response to our demands.

If so, they are sending us the message that either we back off, or they will demand we withdraw. In other words, they are laying the foundation to call our bluff.

I am confident that we are not bluffing. Therefore, the Saudis have a decision to make: back down, or ask us to leave. Given the internal situation in Saudi Arabia, my bet is that they ask us to leave.

We live in interesting times (which is, BTW, an ancient Chinese curse...).

Given the internal situation in Saudi Arabia, my bet is that they ask us to leave.

That seems to be increasingly likely, based only on what we know. I agree, there is much going on behind the scenes that we can only guess at.

If they ask us to leave, they will be caving to their religious clerics and the fundamentalist movement. That could buy them some short-term political gain at home, but it will only make things worse for them in the long run. The clerics will soon be powerful enough that they can simply tell the royal family to leave. Or else.

I still think the Saudis are trying to walk the tightrope of trying to appease the fundamentalists while keeping a western presence for their own protection. There's no guarantee that approach would work in the long run, either.

The only strategy that might work for the royal family would be to apply pressure to the clerics and try to dampen their influence in the country. Whether that's even possible, I don't know.

The House of Saud had better enjoy itself today, because it will take a political miracle to keep it power for another 25 years.

If we are bluffing, we will back down and keep our base (for now, anyway). If we do not back down (i.e., we are not bluffing), the Saudis will either back down, or ask us to leave. (I do not think we would stay after being publicly told to leave.) I am confident that we are not bluffing. Therefore, the Saudis have a decision to make: back down, or ask us to leave. Given the internal situation in Saudi Arabia, my bet is that they ask us to leave. Then they could honestly say: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US Sorry, couldn't resist.