Osama bin Laden gets an item on his wish list:

[Theophylact]

U.S. forces to leave Saudi Arabia this year

April 30, 2003 | DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- U.S. and Saudi officials cite military strategy and a desire to keep their relationship strong in the decision to pull most U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia, where their presence had enraged militant Muslims like alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

American officials announced Tuesday that nearly all of the 4,500 U.S. Air Force personnel and 100 U.S. planes based in Saudi Arabia will be gone by the end of summer.

The move marks a major shift in U.S. focus in the Persian Gulf with the United States all but abandoning a remote Saudi desert air base that was built in the 1990s and made the site of a high-tech air operations center in 2001.

Only about 400 U.S. troops will remain in the Muslim kingdom, most of them based near Riyadh to train Saudi forces, American officials said.

American commanders moved their oversight of air operations in the region on Monday from Saudi Arabia to the command center the U.S. built at the al-Udeid base in Qatar.

U.S. officials contend the move is part of an inevitable repositioning of forces in the Gulf region now that one of its main military threats -- Saddam Hussein -- is gone.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan said forces are no longer needed to patrol the old "no-fly zone" over southern Iraq. Sultan said military cooperation would continue and that the withdrawal "does not mean we requested them to leave Saudi Arabia."

The presence of American forces, though, has long been an irritant for Saudi rulers. Bin Laden's raging at the presence of "infidel" soldiers in the land of Islam's holiest shrines found receptive listeners among a growing and increasingly restive Saudi population.

Qatari-based political analyst Qassem Jafaar said the pullout shouldn't be seen as a direct result of bin Laden's terror tactics.

"Bin Laden shouldn't claim this as a victory," Jafaar said. "It had nothing to do with him."

Nonetheless, the U.S.-Saudi relationship became noticeably strained after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, and Saudi-born bin Laden cited the U.S. military presence in his homeland as a reason for his hatred of America.

"Both sides have grievances with each other," Jafaar said. "This is certainly is a very volatile relationship at the moment."

Ahmed al-Ghamdi, a Saudi political analyst, said moving the troops from the kingdom would relieve domestic pressure on the government.

"Saudi officials know very well that the powerful religious establishment within the country was against this presence," he said.

In 1996, Muslim militants bombed the Khobar Towers complex in Dhahran, killing 19 U.S. servicemen and prompting troops to move to the heavily fortified Prince Sultan Air Base. U.S. prosecutors have indicted 14 people in that case.

Sultan said before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that he would never allow his namesake base to be used for U.S. attacks on Arabs or Muslims, and the Saudis tried to suppress news of the base's use in the Iraq war.

Some say the Americans found in Qatar what they didn't get in Saudi Arabia. The United States used the high-tech al-Udeid center during the Iraq war to coordinate military flights in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, said Rear Adm. Dave Nichols, deputy air commander for Central Command.

"The Saudis were too timid in the days leading up to the Iraq war. The Americans didn't find a friend in Saudi Arabia and discovered that in times of crises, the Saudis were not reliable and were in fact, replaceable," said Abdul Khaleq Abdulla, a political analyst in the United Arab Emirates.

What the troop movement will mean for Saudi Arabia -- facing deepening economic crisis and increasing calls for reform -- remains to be seen.

"The American administration has a clear policy: 'You are either with us or against us,'" Abdulla said. "They don't want any more hypocrisy."

[originel]

i think that this will probably end up being a good move on our part. yes there will be people in the middle east claiming "victory" for "driving us out", but oh well. hopefully this will ease tensions at least slightly out there, besides, like the article said, since hussein is out of power we don't really need a large presence anymore anyways

[caddmannq]

Well, you know that we can't attack Saudi Arabia from within Saudi Arabia. Pulling our forces back to Quatar and Iraq gives our forces a clearer field of fire.

And, face it, since the Saudis are clearly not our friends, we need to be able to keep them at arms length, but within our sights.

This is the perfect way to do it.

[SickPup404]

As the saying goes: (or something close to it)

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

And I agree it will prolly be a good thing....

[Theophylact]

Mind you, I'm not saying this is a bad idea. In fact, I think Saudi Arabia might deserve a place on the Axis of Evil. But appearances do matter.

[Chuckiechan]

This is chapter one in the book of overthrowing a regime from within...It is starting.

We will be backing anti-Wahabi forces now that we have a friendly Iraq, and will be equipping them to overthrow the Saudi royal family who made a deal with the devil (the Whabi clerics) to stay in power.

The question is who will fall first, Iran or Saudi Arabia...devide and conqure, peel and split...they will both fall within 5 years, IMO.

Great news for world peace and stability!

[Theophylact]

The New York Times comes out -- barely -- against attacking Saudi Arabia:

At first glance, it may look as if the United States is capitulating to one of Osama bin Laden's central demands by pulling nearly all American military forces out of Saudi Arabia. Actually, the decision is an encouraging sign that the Bush administration has the confidence and maturity to act in the long-term interests of the United States and Saudi Arabia, even if it means taking some heat for overlapping with Mr. bin Laden's agenda.

Close American relations with Saudi Arabia go back more than half a century. But basing large numbers of United States combat troops there is a comparative novelty, directly related to the threat from Saddam Hussein. With the Iraqi dictator gone, the administration can afford to move most of the 10,000 American troops now in Saudi Arabia to other regional bases, where they will be more welcome, face fewer military restrictions and provide less propaganda fodder for Islamic extremists.

It is clearly in Washington's interest to reduce its dependency on the whims of the Saudi royal family, which has hidden American troops in the remote interior, restricted the missions American pilots can carry out and long prevailed on the Air Force to make American servicewomen wear full-length robes and travel only in the back seats of cars when venturing off base. Washington put up with this because Saudi bases were ideally located for patrolling southern Iraq's no-flight zone. With those patrols no longer needed, more attractive basing alternatives are available nearby, in Qatar.

Military withdrawal will still leave vital links between Washington and Riyadh. With the world's largest petroleum reserves and highest output, Saudi Arabia will remain a major oil power, whatever happens in postwar Iraq. For decades, the kingdom has recycled its oil wealth into large purchases of American arms and Treasury debt. Given the challenges ahead, Riyadh needs to spend more of its wealth at home.

Saudi Arabia faces critical problems. A rapidly rising population, eroding oil prices and rampant corruption have translated into diminishing opportunities and rising discontent. Crown Prince Abdullah, the country's real ruler, has indicated that once American troops are gone, he will press ahead with domestic reforms. These are overdue. The royal family's absolute power has made few concessions to the 20th century, let alone the 21st. Women have virtually no civil rights, and political rights are denied to both sexes. Because there is no independent judiciary, justice is cruel and arbitrary. A longstanding alliance of convenience between the royal family and fanatical Wahhabi clerics has embroiled the kingdom with terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Faced with resistance within the royal family, the crown prince has so far taken a very cautious approach to political reform. He would begin with elected provincial assemblies, with only men voting. An elected national legislature would be six years away. Bolder, faster changes are needed.

[Max50]

The following is a clip from an article published immediately after 9/11 which indicates that region wanted a US presence in Saudi for protection.

There is one good reason to get rid of Saddam Hussein: Saddam Hussein is the reason that US forces are deployed in Saudi Arabia, something that neither Arabs nor Americans particularly enjoy. As long as Saddam Hussein is in power, the US will maintain a presence in Saudi Arabia (and will be asked to maintain that presence by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, emirates, etc), and that presence will create the perfect pretext for anti-American demonstrations and terrorism. America will get out of Saudi Arabia only after Saddam Hussein gets out of Bagdad. If that is the case, then this is a good reason to bomb and invade Iraq.
__________________________________________________ _
From the poster's link:

Close American relations with Saudi Arabia go back more than
a half a century. But basing large numbers of United States combat troops there is a comparative novelty, directly related to the threat from Saddam Hussein. With the Iraqi dictator gone, the administration can afford to move most of the 10,000 American troops now in Saudi Arabia to other regional bases, where they will be more welcome, face fewer military restrictions and provide less propaganda fodder for Islamic extremists.

That information certainly recognizes a problem, and pulling out now has a foreign policy in that area that makes sense. If I remember correctly, most terrorists were Saudi Arabs and directly involved in the 9/11 attack.

The Saudi government wanted US presence and dollars, but the terrorists had a different agenda!! The US was caught in the middle of two different objectives on that particular issue.