Originally posted by Sikboy
I'm not sure I follow you Miko. In the 12 years between the Iranian revolution and the Gulf war, I do not believe that there was ever a serious challenge to Emirites. And during this time, there was no US military presense in the region beyond our Bases in Turkey, and the 6th fleet. And there was no public support in the US for the Arab nations. It could easily be argued that cooperation with the United States does not help protect the Monarchies, bur rather, causes them internal problems (some by their own design) which threaten their rule. The only "protection" we seem to grant them is vs. Iraq, not their own citizens.
OBL was our friend untill past the Iraiqi affair. I am pretty sure he believed that Irak-Kuwait conflict was their internal affair and that we - US - used it as a pretext to place our troops in the region - and keep them there since to supposedly protect Saudi Arabia from the same Iraq.
If Iraq never posed threat to SA, that makes our stay there even less valid.
The goal of OBL and his followers was to topple corrupt princes and establish people republic - based on religious principles but kind of democracy nevertheless.
One of his issues was that the princes exploited the oil that was supposed to belong to teh whole people and sold it for nothing (there were times of $8/barrel where he though good price to be much more) and waste the proceeds on whoring and gambling.
Our support of the monarchy linked to obvious financial gain due to exploiting resources of subjugated saudi people was one reason he and many others became our enemies.
The second reason is that continuing presence of infidels (our troops) on their land is considered a sacrilege.
If we only pulled out 1991 or even never went there, left saudis to their own devices and stopped interfering with their fight for freedom and religious hotspots, he would have likely still been our friend - maybe even as a president of Saudi Arabia.
OBL did not give rats bellybutton about palestinians and Israel, neither did he have any reasons to like Iraq or accept its help in anything.
Deserved hate huh? So how does it feel to hate your own country? Never mind, go smoke a joint and put your head back up your ass. If I hated my own country, I would not have worried much about correcting the wrongs it does or mistakes it's about to make.
I guess you miss that the hate I referred to was from the people we help opress and exploit - despite our own principles.
We support dictatorships, we get to suffer hate of their people.
I bet even in your country there were plenty of people who loved it and still disliked the fact that it served as a base for nazi industry.
When your own king Charles XII wanted to engage in foreign military adventures, your own parliament actively resisted him, denied funding and happily deposed him after the disasterous campaighn in Ukraine. Where those people traitors or patriots?
I do not see you volunteering to join the fight in the Middle East, so excuse me if I do not feel the need for us to do so either.
miko
