By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
In the final days of 1990, almost four months after Saddam Hussein’s troops had marched into Kuwait, Osama bin Laden arranged a sit-down with the Al-Sauds, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia. In that meeting, Bin Laden asked the family not to accept U.S. military aid; instead, he offered to provide the Saudis with a force of Islamic fighters to defend their nation from an inevitable attack by Iraq.
King Fahd and his advisors declined, instead opting for the help of American troops, who were much better equipped for waging modern warfare.
While American forces and a coalition of international troops would go on to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait in a matter of days, the gash left on the pride of Bin Laden remained, and it remains to this day. He accused the Al-Sauds of betraying the Islamic people by accepting foreign troops into the holy land, and said they were not the true custodians of the holy sights of Mecca and Medina.
Just a matter of months after the end of the war, Bin Laden used “America vs. Islam” propaganda to launch his terrorist organization and recruit the 15 native Saudis who would participate in the Sept. 11 hijackings that would bring down the Twin Towers.
On April 29, more than 12 years after the end of the Gulf War, the United States finally removed 5,000 of its troops from Saudi Arabia, leaving only some military training personnel. Their numbers had greatly decreased since the early 1990s, but their presence continued to put an unnecessary strain on U.S.-Saudi relations and the relationship between this country and the followers of Islam.
After all, given the other possible locations for the troops and the ousting of Hussein, one wonders why this country continued to give Islamic terrorist leaders such as Bin Laden the kind of provocation that comes along with our perceived occupation of the land containing Islam’s holiest sites — Mecca (the religious capital where the Kabah is located) and Medina (the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed).
Since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S.-Saudi relations had been teetering between ally and enemy. But regardless of whether we like the Saudis, or the Saudis like us, we need each other. The two countries have been bonded ever since the 1920s, when employees of the Aramco (Arab America) Oil Company first started exporting millions of gallons of oil to the United States, sending millions of U.S. dollars to the rulers of the Saudi kingdom.
There is no doubt that the United States has always wanted to defend its interests in the Arabian Peninsula, and we have good reason. The announcement by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier this year to move our defenses to the more U.S.-friendly nations of the region — like Qatar, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates — only strengthened our relationship with Saudi Arabia. None of these other nations have the same magnitude significance in the Islamic world, and they’ve all proven to have more U.S.-friendly policies.
With Iraq being the new center of U.S. military operations, keeping a small number of forces in these countries should be enough to keep our influence present in the Middle East without offending the Islamic peoples.
With military forces removed, advisors and civilian contractors, people like my father, who have been in Saudi Arabia as long as the troops, have the opportunity to take over the role of U.S. diplomats. These people carry no weapons, present no authority, and, most important, break no strict Islamic codes enforced in the country – unlike many U.S. military personnel.
This replacement satisfies most of the Muslim world, without jeopardizing this country’s interest in this important but conflict-ridden region.
The Saudis themselves are left with the responsibility to fight against terrorism in their own borders. This is a responsibility by which they know they must abide — if not for international relations, for their own nation’s leaders, who are always in Bin Laden’s crosshairs.
By removing troops from the holy lands of Saudi Arabia, the United States is not giving into the terrorist demands; instead, we are making an educated move to take one small step toward repairing the great rift between Americans and the Muslim world, a rift that could still prove disastrous in years to come — just ask the Israelis. Because while the Al-Sauds required U.S. help in 1990, they no longer need it. Our military’s visa had certainly run its course.
We returned Saudi Arabia to the Saudis. As far as the U.S. presence in the Middle East is concerned, it’s a good start.
November 06, 2003