Quote:
Originally posted by spinningfetus
But is it really capitulating if we don't belong there? I don't like paying to protect the house of Saud, they aren't even the rightful rulers in the first place.
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As I recall, the US Air Force is there to keep the Iraqis out, not to prop up the princes, who were doing OK on thier own until Iraq invaded Kuwait.
That's what ticked bin Laden off, he figured that Hussein's invasion threat was his ticket back into the good graces of the Saudi rulers (who were his daddy's patrons) ,and when they decided the US was a better ally, he became an opponent of the Saudi regime, who subsequently froze his bank accounts and stripped him of his citizenship.
Bin Laden assumed his personal army would be welcome in Saudi after the Afghan war against the Soviets (financed by the US and with the blessings of the Saudis, as well as the Pakis).
Guess he was wrong....whoda thunk it?
If the Saudis had decided that bin Laden would be their savior, imagine how *that* would have played out (however unlikely a scenario that would have been).