US TROOPS LEAVING SAUDI ARABIA

WASHINGTON, April 29 — Most American forces are pulling out of Saudi Arabia, ending an uneasy 12-year presence in the gulf kingdom, U.S. officials announced Tuesday. The withdrawal addresses one of the most sensitive issues for Muslims — and one frequently cited by Osama bin Laden — who have complained about the large U.S. presence in the home of Islam’s two holiest shrines.

The air operations center at Prince Sultan air base — headquarters for the first gulf war in 1991 — will move to Qatar’s al-Udeid air base, where commanders ran the recent Iraq war.

“We want to get the footprint down pretty quickly in Saudi Arabia,” a defense official told NBC on Tuesday.

American forces — whose numbers doubled to 10,000 during the Iraq war — have already begun withdrawing, officials said.

By the end of the summer, nearly all of the 4,500 Air Force personnel who were permanently stationed in Prince Sultan as well as the 100 U.S. planes will be gone, said Rear Adm. Dave Nichols, deputy commander of the center.

Control of military flights in and around Iraq moved on Monday from Prince Sultan to Qatar, he said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and officials traveling with him said the U.S. military will remain in Saudi Arabia, but with a much smaller force focused primarily on training the Saudi military.

Asked if Saudi Arabia had requested the move, first reported last week by MSNBC.com, a senior U.S. official accompanying Rumsfeld that the decision was by “very mutual agreement.” (full story)

You realize, if we had done this without invading Iraq, then our goofy color-coded terror alert scale would be down to GREEN right now? Thanks George! (you too, Ralph)

Hmm, also earlier today the Bushies signed a cease-fire agreement with an Iranian group that the US had previously branded terrorists! And they get to keep their weapons! But . . . but . . . but the United States doesn't negotiate with terrorists! What about Bush's "moral clarity"???