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Saudis tell US forces to get out
Guardian Unlimited ^ | Saturday January 19, 2002 | Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor

Posted on 01/19/2002 6:04:18 AM PST by yoe

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."


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 01/19/2002 6:04:18 AM PST by yoe (yoe)
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To: yoe
In the late 70's there was a Dr Martin Abend who would debate Ed Koch on channel 5 in NYC, before Koch became mayor. Abend said the only way to have stability in the mid-east was for the US to 'take over' the sheik-doms by what ever method necessary. This may soon come to pass.
2 posted on 01/19/2002 6:37:42 AM PST by duckman
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To: yoe
This seems to be the second day, pm spin on an earlier article. 'twould be fine with me if we left these ingrates.
3 posted on 01/19/2002 6:39:27 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: duckman
We need to do WHATEVER is necessary to get our way of life back; as it stands right now, the terrorists and anarchists have won.....just look at the tube and watch those old ladies getting wanded and frisked, since it's incorrect to 'profile'.....it's time for hardball; I'm sick of this crap.
4 posted on 01/19/2002 6:41:21 AM PST by ErnBatavia
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To: ErnBatavia
(wanding and frisking at airports, of course...not enough caffeine in me yet)
5 posted on 01/19/2002 6:42:38 AM PST by ErnBatavia
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To: ErnBatavia
Well, I think that the Saudis don't wnat us to be there, because of their ties to all of this Al Quaeda stuff. It looks to me like they don't want us in the region, because when we find out that they are involved, or behind a large part of this, we are going to move very swiftly indeed. We would be on them like nobody's business.

Of course, here's a little conspiracy theory, what if the Saudis, the Kuwaiti's and Iraq have joined forces?

6 posted on 01/19/2002 7:57:09 AM PST by MadRobotArtist
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: yoe
Take a longer view than just telling the Saudis to get screwed, which though the rag-head ingrates deserve. Rather, at this point, we should: help the Russians develop their oil, do more exploration domestically (yes, even in that winter wonderland of Alaska), kick-start our domestic nuclear generating program and plan to eliminate Saddam and participate in the liberated oil fields of Iraq.

Now, if the Saudis do get rash and "kick" us out, we might consider some well-placed explosives to slow down their cash cow; it would drive up prices world-wide but that too would incentivise domestic exploration and conservation, too.

8 posted on 01/19/2002 8:21:00 AM PST by magoo_70115
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To: yoe
You didn't look to see if this was already posted, obviously. It's even in the Breaking News sidebar where it's been for half a day.
9 posted on 01/19/2002 8:25:30 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: MadRobotArtist
Kuwait has been with us unlike the Saudis Kuwait has actually frozesomebank accounts and made some arrest and it never bankrolled the Taliban.
10 posted on 01/19/2002 3:17:55 PM PST by weikel
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To: weikel
If Kuwait doesn't take a stand for us, then they are the same as the Saudis in my book.
11 posted on 01/19/2002 3:22:19 PM PST by MadRobotArtist
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To: MadRobotArtist
Kuwait has actually cracked down( SA is definitely behind this attack they have not done sh*t).
12 posted on 01/19/2002 3:27:33 PM PST by weikel
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To: Dog Gone
Busted by the posting police!
13 posted on 01/19/2002 3:32:17 PM PST by alaskanfan
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To: weikel
I hope we find out that SA is 100% these attacks, and that Kuwait lets us stage our military campaign there. I would love to see us colonize that whole region and do away with our so called dependence on foreign oil, especially when we take over their oil fields, and run them out of their countries on the camels they screw nightly.
14 posted on 01/19/2002 3:37:28 PM PST by MadRobotArtist
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To: MadRobotArtist
Your wrong the Saudis can't screw their camels without American technical assistance.
15 posted on 01/19/2002 3:38:38 PM PST by weikel
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