http://www.truthout.com/01.19G.Saudis.US.Out.htm
>--- Original Message --- >From: Ian Murray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: 1/18/02 6:15:54 PM > >Saudis tell US forces to get out > >Foreign soldiers seen as political liability > >Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor >Saturday January 19, 2002 >The Guardian > >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." > > > >
