“There are a lot of things that are different now [that the U.S. occupies Iraq], and one that has gone by almost unnoticed – but it’s huge – is that … we can now remove almost all of our forces from Saudi Arabia. Their presence there over the last 12 years has been a source of enormous difficulty for a friendly government. It’s been a huge recruiting device for al Qaeda.”“In fact if you look at bin Laden, one of his principle grievances was the presence of so-called crusader forces on the holy land, Mecca and Medina. I think just lifting that burden from the Saudis is itself going to open the door to other positive things.
Yes, you heard him right. And the past 12 years includes pre-9/11.
That our presence in Saudi Arabia might have been a cause for al Qaeda’s desire to attack us (oh, yeah, they’re just jealous of our freedoms) is not a new idea. But that this statement comes from our old friend Paul Wolfowitz could make a sane person’s head spin.
