issue to be discussed at the ministerial level.
Powell had every opportunity to make a flat, unequivocal statement, which could have sounded like this: "There is not a word of truth in the Washington Post article. There have been no discussions whatsoever on redeploying U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, no one in Saudi Arabia has raised this with us on any level and no one on our side is thinking about a redeployment. This is not on the table."
Powell could have put this to rest with such a statement. He chose not to. Instead, he made a series of comments
Powell had every opportunity to make a flat, unequivocal statement, which could have sounded like this: "There is not a word of truth in the Washington Post article. There have been no discussions whatsoever on redeploying U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, no one in Saudi Arabia has raised this with us on any level and no one on our side is thinking about a redeployment. This is not on the table."
Powell could have put this to rest with such a statement. He chose not to. Instead, he made a series of comments
designed to appear to be unequivocal but which, on careful analysis, confirms that the military relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia is in danger of coming unhinged.
A senior senator is calling for a U.S. withdrawal, senior Saudi officials are deliberately leaking a change of policy and the secretary of state is trying to spin the crisis through carefully worded statements. Bottom line: There is a problem, and it is a profound one.
The U.S.-Saudi alliance has been the foundation of both Washington's strategy in the
A senior senator is calling for a U.S. withdrawal, senior Saudi officials are deliberately leaking a change of policy and the secretary of state is trying to spin the crisis through carefully worded statements. Bottom line: There is a problem, and it is a profound one.
The U.S.-Saudi alliance has been the foundation of both Washington's strategy in the
Persian Gulf and the Saudi grand strategy since the 1950s.
When Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew Egypt's monarchy and installed a secular, socialist, militarist pan-Arabism in its place, he challenged the interests of both Washington and Riyadh. Nasser's vision was a single, united, modernizing state encompassing the entire Arab world -- a United Arab Republic.
A wave of Nasserism swept the region, creating similar regimes in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Nasser saw the Saudi regime as both the center of gravity of
When Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew Egypt's monarchy and installed a secular, socialist, militarist pan-Arabism in its place, he challenged the interests of both Washington and Riyadh. Nasser's vision was a single, united, modernizing state encompassing the entire Arab world -- a United Arab Republic.
A wave of Nasserism swept the region, creating similar regimes in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Nasser saw the Saudi regime as both the center of gravity of