Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirms that U.S. forces are leaving Saudi Arabia
Published:
30 April 2003 y., Wednesday
In a joint news conference with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, Mr. Rumsfeld said the United States is grateful for the cooperation Saudi Arabia has provided.
The key command center for U.S. air operations in the Gulf region was transferred from Saudi Arabia to Qatar on Monday.
As many as 10,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia during the war with Iraq. The kingdom was also a staging area for U.S. attacks against Iraq during the Gulf war in 1991 and for enforcing the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.
However, Saudi Arabia refused to allow about 100 U.S. aircraft in the kingdom to be used for direct attacks against Iraq during the latest conflict, mostly because of public opposition to the war among Saudi citizens.
The spokesman for the 22-member Arab League, Hisham Yousef, told VOA the Arab world applauds the decision to remove U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia. Mr. Yousef said the issue of foreign troops on Arab soil is sensitive. U.S. officials have said future American military relations with Saudi Arabia would be in the form of training and military exercises.
Šaltinis:
voanews.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Lithuania took over the Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe today, with a focus on internal and external threats in the OSCE area, fostering democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, notably freedom of the media, promoting energy security in Europe and building upon synergies between regional organizations.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė says the decision taken by the European Council to amend the EU Treaty to provide for the establishment of a permanent support mechanism for crisis–stricken eurozone countries is very important for Lithuania.
more »
At the OSCE Summit, President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė met with President of the Kyrgyz Republic Roza Otunbayeva for a bilateral discussion.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė attending OSCE Summit in Astana had a conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė positively assessed the European Commission's decision to include the integration of the Baltic Energy Market into the European market in the map of EU priorities.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė left to Lisbon to attend NATO Summit that starts today.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė congratulated President Valdis Zatlers of the Republic of Latvia and all Latvian people on Latvia's national holiday, the Independence Day.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received letters of credence from the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Samad Ali Lakizadeh.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received letters of credence from the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed Ahmed Al Mahmood.
more »
As a response to the address made by representatives of Lithuania's culture community and civic society concerning the future of Kristijonas Donelaitis museum in Chistye Prudy in the Kaliningrad Oblast, President of the Republic of Lithuania D. Grybauskaitė sent a letter to President D. Medvedev of the Russian Federation.
more »