Hit the road Jack!

[meadow]

let's see, the saudis don't like us because we're in mecca country where
they're holier than us, and bin laden doesn't like the saudis because they
let us be there, does that mean the saudis are intimidated by bin laden?
they were fine with us before 9-ll.
either way, on with a non-oil based economy.

Roger Baker wrote:

> Since the Saudis want us out if their country, not withstanding the
> mid-1980's
> agreement with King Faisal to provide unlimited oil in return for US
> military protection,
> what shall we do?
>
> Well first of all since this is embarressing and since we are hoplessly
> addicted to their
> oil, let begin by having Sec of state Powell deny that any of this this
> is happening at all,
> and meanwhile maybe somebody can think of a new way to spin the bad
> news. After all,
> god wants us to have our fair share of their oil, and making sure we get
> that  is going to
> require lots of warships and missiles.
>
> -- Roger
>
>                   ***************************************
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5134-2002Jan18.html
>
> Powell: Saudis Have Not Mentioned U.S. Withdrawal
>
> Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday that he has had "no
> discussion" with Saudi officials about the possibility that Saudi Arabia
> will ask the United States to withdraw its armed forces from the kingdom.
>
> Powell, responding to questions during a stop in Katmandu, Nepal, about
> a story in Thursday's Washington Post, said he had been in regular
> contact with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud Faisal, but had heard
> nothing about withdrawing U.S. forces.
>
> The Post reported that Saudi leaders were becoming increasingly
> uncomfortable with the presence of American troops and might soon ask
> that they be removed...
>
>
> ******************************************************************
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,636035,00.html
>
> 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...