[Peace-discuss] and it starts

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

U.S. Withdraws Troops From Saudi Arabia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
Filed at 6:19 a.m. ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Arab frustration over the U.S.-led war 
against Iraq and Muslim fury over the presence of U.S. soldiers on their holy 
land has prompted Washington to withdraw troops from Saudi Arabia.

Analysts also attribute the shift in troops to growing mistrust between 
Saudis and the United States, despite official denials from both sides.

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 here to a similar 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.

But analysts question whether the shifts marks the beginning of the end of 
the U.S.-Saudi relationship based on a trade of oil for security.

``This equation is being questioned for the first time in decades,'' Abdul 
Khaleq Abdulla, a political analyst in the United Arab Emirates.

The presence of American forces has long been an irritant for Saudi rulers 
facing strong anti-American sentiment among a growing and increasingly 
restive population. Saudi Arabia is home to Islam's two holiest shrines.

The relationship became noticeably strained after the Sept. 11 attacks 
against the United States.

Fifteen of the 19 alleged hijackers were Saudis, and Saudi-born Osama 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,'' said Qatari-based political 
analyst Qassem Jafaar. ``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 the 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.

After meeting Tuesday with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Sultan said 
military cooperation between the two countries would continue and that the 
U.S. withdrawal ``does not mean we requested them to leave Saudi Arabia.''

Rumsfeld has said he wants to have fewer troops in the Persian Gulf after all 
operations in Iraq are complete. That process could take years, however. 
Rumsfeld also has said the United States does not want permanent access to 
bases inside Iraq.

Some say the Americans found in Qatar what they didn't get with Saudi. 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,'' 
Abdulla said.

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. Perhaps 
they want to lessen their losses and don't want to be associated with a dying 
regime.''