Word: saudi
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...Saddam's ouster has also significantly increased the U.S. strategic presence in the region, raising questions about what sort of military facilities the Americans will ask for or get from a new Iraqi government. But recent war also showed that you didn't need a major commitment from Saudi Arabia to achieve U.S. military goals in the region - the Gulf States and U.S. aircraft carriers were able to stage much of the air war, because the Saudis didn't want the U.S. to fly direct combat missions against Iraq from their territory. Still, the relationship worked pretty well during...
...MacLeod: Some politicians in Washington may be inclined to cast this decision as a slap in the face to the Saudis, but I see no sign that at the highest level of the U.S. government that Saudi Arabia is being abandoned as a strategic ally. The fundamentals of that relationship - which long predated the deployment of U.S. troops there and are based on Saudi Arabia's oil production, its geographic location and its longstanding friendship with the U.S. - remain unchanged. Even in the best-case scenario in Iraq, it take a very long time before the government and people...
...TIME.com: How will the announcement be received inside Saudi Arabia...
...MacLeod: Some in the Saudi leadership will welcome the news, because they have been upset by what they see as the U.S. acting as if it owned Saudi Arabia. There's a lot of nationalism in the royal family, not to mention on the streets. And those elements will be happy to see U.S. troops withdrawn, and won't see any downside. But there will be others in the leadership who will worry about the reality, or the perception, that the withdrawal downgrades Saudi Arabia's strategic importance to the U.S. The Saudis believe they need to be under...
...TIME.com: Ironically, the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia has long been one of the primary grievances of Osama bin Laden and his organization. How will the withdrawal play for bin Laden and his supporters...