Saudis Plan to End U.S. Presence
“Saudi Arabia’s leaders have made far-reaching decisions to prepare for an era of military disengagement from the United States, to enact what Saudi officials call the first significant democratic reforms at home, and to rein in the conservative clergy that has shared power in the kingdom.
Senior members of the royal family say the decisions, reached in the last month, are a result of a continuing debate over Saudi Arabia’s future and have not yet been publicly announced. But these princes say Crown Prince Abdullah will ask President Bush to withdraw all American armed forces from the kingdom as soon as the campaign to disarm Iraq has concluded”
The balance of power is shifting all over the globe. Pulling away from America. Europe, now Saudi Arabia.