After satellite images showed facilities being prepared for them, US officials were quoted in the media as saying that there is a plan to send “up to 500” US ground troops to Saudi Arabia in response to Iran tensions.
Former Congressman Ron Paul commented on the matter, both saying it accomplishes very little, and warning that historically having US troops on the Arabian Peninsula has been a source of anger among Islamists. Osama bin Laden specifically attributed his 9/11 attack to the US having troops in his holy land. After 9/11, the US made a point of removing troops from Saudi Arabia, and now seems to be in the process of sending them back.
The soldiers will be sent to an area next to the Prince Sultan Airbase east of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where there are plans for a large missile installation to protect the base.
With officials trying to present this as something to do with Iran, this is a continuation of a US military buildup across the Middle East that has been ongoing for months, each if which ends up being justified by some non-specific Iranian “provocation.”
send traitor trump and bring our troops home.
Just another tripwire. We are setting them everywhere. Little outposts on Syria-Turkey border, little here and there. A desperate measure to force American people to accept fighting once some of these human sacrifices are attacked. Somebody is salivating for a prospect of American soldiers being attacked in Saudi Arabia — then just occupy Saudi Arabia. Problem solved. Then Iran will be next, as Gulf countries will be next if objecting to fight. This is Saudis bad mistake. If it happens, though.
500 US troops does not represent a “little outpost” today. One soldier connected, can call in more firepower than most nations are able.
You made my point — precisely, a trip-
wire, sacrificial lambs to feed the neocon war machine. So “somebody” attacks that one soldier, and presto — our warmongers will be screaming for “must do something”, and people like you will cheer it on. No Dave, no. We have no business putting ONE soldier there. We have no business feeding the war machine profiteers while our country is falling apart. Ever took a boat ride on Potomac, and passed under Amtrak bridge? It looks like an abandoned pile of rust.
We are thinking still that all this war hopping around the globe is good for us. When are we going to get it? We are poorer so that salivating war monsters can hoard riches. Our economy is riding on fumes, and we still think it is OK to throw all this money away. We demand no accountability for the money spent, and as a result we have immense waste in the name of security. Quo Vadis moment, I fear.
As Captain Willard once asked “What are you shooting at?”
It doesn’t matter as long as they’re American bullets paid for by the brave children of American deficit spenders.
You miss my point, Bianca. You allude 500 US troops are simply potential targets, not so. 500 US troops also represents an awesome offensive threat in today’s world. Obviously you don’t read many of my posts if you think I would cheer on a war with Iran. Whatever…..
I really do not think you are cheering for a war. But there are still so many ways we can be naive, and be led by the nose. The awesomeness of our military is our drug, the opium that allows us to sleep through a set up. We should not take it lightly when our military steps a foot out of our country. But because we believe in invincibility, we are lazy and complacent.
The whole stupid thing is —- yes, the tripwire soldiers will be harmed, including red flagged, and they will be valiantly calling in our awesomeness … To pad pockets.
We have not considered that at some point we may be on the receiving end of deadly weapons. Who is to blame then? We just keep on troubling the trouble..,
I agree. When the US states “500 troops”, the US citizen won’t know how many mercenaries will be added to that number, state dept. spooks, air and naval assets supporting them off country..etc. The question of US military invincibility is a moot point. US militancy investment, and imperial deployment make sustainable economy impossible. With each threatening deployment means another country needs to respond with what militant investment they can muster. On and on until humanity quietly succumbs to resource mismanagement. This is the “out with a wimper” theory.
You are both right.
Guess Trump missed the memo about detaching from those pricks after the butchering of Khashoggi.
Here is an article that looks at how American voters feel about Donald Trump’s approach to Iran:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/07/main-street-america-and-another-war-in.html
Should the two co-warriors who currently inhabit the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor use their influence to persuade Donald Trump to enter what would likely be a very lengthy war of attrition in Iran, it may prove to be a very costly move for the Republican Party in November of 2020 given the lack of support for such actions among Main Street Americans.
Al Qaeda hasn’t attacked the US since we removed our troops from the Arabian Peninsula. There was a tacit arrangement (or perhaps just the good old ” deep state” defusing a situation apolitically.) In any event the net effect of reopening that camp is that the American homeland is no longer “out of bounds”.
It should be noted the Saudi Royals and the Bin Ladens go to the same zany church.
Add to the madness- do they not remember even a few years back???
There’s probably two reasons for this: 1) assist in the protection of the Saudi Royal family – joining the DynCorp mercenaries they already have, and 2) as Bianca said, a “tripwire” (although the target isn’t occupying Saudi Arabia, but Iran.)
Also, those troops can prepare the ground for a larger US force in the future. If Iran has to be invaded – and it will, since there’s no other way to prevent Iran from closing the Straits once the war starts – the only country which is likely to want to host massive numbers of US troops will be Saudi Arabia. Iraq won’t given its Shia-oriented government, Turkey probably won’t despite being part of NATO, Pakistan won’t, Afghanistan is on the other side. Only Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be willing to be involved.
Hope they all get beheaded for groping Saudi chicks.
While the presence of 500 American troops isn’t going to have Iran quaking in its boots, it’s certainly a thumb in the eye to those everyone in the region, Muslim or not, who rightly want American troops out of the area. Whether that was the intended outcome, who knows with these Iranophobes in power.