“It is unconscionable to let the country become an American colony with American soldiers for no reason other than protecting your throne and protecting oil sources for their own use. These infidel Crusaders must not be allowed to remain in the Holy Land. You have brought to our people the two worst calamities, blasphemy and poverty.”
[Osama Bin Laden, open letter to King Fahd, 1995]
Many Saudis shared his hostility to the continuing American presence in the Kingdom, especially after Dick Cheney’s well-known pledge that they would leave. Ostensibly, the troops remained in order to enforce the UN-mandated no-fly zone over Iraq. By 1992, however, and certainly by 1993, there were enough new basing agreements in the region that the Americans could have withdrawn without jeopardizing their mission. But the Saudi bases were convenient and well appointed, and there didn’t seem to be a sufficiently pressing need to leave.
[Wright, Lawrence (2006-08-08). The Looming Tower (p. 210)]
