US intentions to send around 3,000 ground troops to Saudi Arabia’s oil producing area were reported back in October, but it was only on Tuesday that the Trump Administration sent letters to the House and Senate informing them of the plan.
The letters informed Congress that the first group of troops has been dispatched to Saudi Arabia, with the rest of the 3,000 expected to arrive in the next few weeks.
This was part of ongoing US efforts to get troops near Iran, though the letter said it was to “protect US interests and enhance force protection in the region against hostile action by Iran and its proxy forces.” The letter also said it would reassure allies.
The letter also suggested this is going to be a very open-ended deployment, saying that the troops will “stay there for as long as they are able to deter Iranian threats.”
Past US deployments to Saudi Arabia were highly controversial on religious grounds, and were cited by al-Qaeda as a motivation for the 9/11 attacks. The US made a point for security reasons to not have troops in Saudi Arabia for at least awhile after that, though now the deployments seem to be resuming with an eye toward picking a fight with Iran.
Are the Saudi’s paying for these troops or are they a gift from the American People by the GREAT Leader in his matchless wisdom?
Surely they’re paying.
With who’s money ?
Saudi money, not American. That’s the point. And the Saudis actually want us there, presumably.
Oh, well then, I’ll be waiting for that check in the mail from Khashoggi…..
Are the Saudi’s paying our 3000 troops directly so they don’t have to use my tax money to pay them? Or will there be a Saudi rebate at tax time next year?
Who will run the strip clubs & massage parlors around the American bases–Lebanese or Albanians?
That is the surest way to make the Saudi’s defense-lazy. Why organize a modern, effective armed forces when Uncle Sam comes to our rescue?
Moreover, the Americans are not going to overthrow the family but with a larger domestic armed forces you can never be sure. Generals in the Middle East seem to be prone to grab the helm.
comment self-deleted by author on 5th ammendment self-protection grounds.
I guess the danger from those dastardly Iranians wasn’t “imminent” enough to send the troops over there back in October.
I guess why I don’t mind this is they were likely invited. And as Ron mentions in the comments, the Saudis are probably paying the cost.
This is maybe much better than troops in Afghanistan, Syria, and even Germany. Provided there’s no conflict, maybe this is fine.
Unlike Turkish forces, Saudi and Iranian forces are not battle hardened. Only U.S. forces will gain credit for that. I doubt Saudi Arabia will send their land forces deep into Iran in the event of a new Gulf war.
A war with Iran would be a disaster. If Trump decides to do that, he’ll be condemned for the rest of his life. It’ll turn out worse than the Iraq War did for Bush II. I just don’t believe he’d do it.
He will do it because he’s less than 5% of the man you think he is.
At the moment, Trump is looking to gain more public support. Attacking Iran is only one option. Reigning in Turkey without harsh sanctions may still be on his mind. This impeachment will occupy much to his time leading towards the 2020 Presidential Election.
What motivated the 9-11 attacks again? Oh…yeah……
KSA royals probably want us there–but probably few other Saudis.
Plus they want us there for the same reason Israel wants us in the ME;
They want US soldiers potential target and hence a trigger for war
and that potential “target” is for false flags as well.
Wow, you’re easy to please. Just as long as we might be making a buck, who cares? And wasn’t bin Laden’s big beef about having US troops on “sacred” land?
I don’t want the US to profit. Relatively speaking, this might be one of the best locations to send them. Okinawans, for example, don’t want the US on their island, polluting their water.
How about having them in none of these places? You make it sound as though our troops have to be somewhere other than defending the U.S. homeland.
Obviously I’d prefer they were only defending the US.
I think, given our hostility towards Iran, this is one of the worst places to send them. It kind of makes it a double whammy.
War with Iran would be too stupid, even for the US government. There’s likely no human institution in history more incompetent than the US government, and few as evil, but even it wouldn’t declare war on Iran.