The US started leaving Saudi Arabia before the 9/11 attacks, and well before the invasion of Iraq. IIRC we started relocating there around 1994, and by 1997 patrols of the no fly zone were starting to come from that base.
The UAE spent a great deal of money to get us there. > -----Original Message----- > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > So, in a way, Bin Laden and his Al Quaeda sympathizers forced the US > out of Saudi Arabia but we're effectively still there. That is, any > invasion or even internal coup would be repelled, in part, by the US. > > Here are the 2 strategic mistakes in a nutshell: > > (1.) Bin Laden thought the US would leave Saudi Arabia without > invading Afghanistan. Didn't happen. Now not only does Bin Laden NOT > have Afghanistan, but he's moved backwards in terms of weakening of > royal family; they seem on guard now and are strengthening their power > base. > > (2.) The US invasion of Iraq solidified in the Arab mind Al Quaeda's > contention: that the US are imperialist crusaders at war with Islam > who want to steal regional riches while killing the Muslims. All Arab > countries including Iraq denounced Al Quaeda's attack and, for the > most part (Saudis?), supported our invasion of Afghanistan. We lost > the hearts and minds of the Arab world when Bush took Iraq and even > had that not happened it was still hugely stupid because it's clearly > more than we can handle. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade & integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:224785 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
