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
President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus received letters of credence from the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr. Galymzhan Koishybayev.
more »
On Wednesday, 14 January, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius departs on a two day visit to Warsaw, Republic of Poland.
more »
As is well known, the crisis team of the Slovakian Government decided to reopen the nuclear power station it shut down in late 2008, since the lack of energy generating resources might lead to a total collapse of its power grid.
more »
Welcoming the new Sri Lankan Ambassador to Lithuania, the President underlined this appointment was an important and promising step in the development of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus presented letters of credence to Sigutė Jakštonytė as Lithuania's Ambassador to Malaysia and Singapore, and to Vaclovas Šalkauskas as Lithuania's Ambassador to Argentina.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus congratulates Lithuania's Orthodox and Old Believer communities on Holy Christmas.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus has sent a letter of congratulations to the President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus whose country has taken over the presidency of the EU.
more »
At the meeting with Mr. Dariusz Jacek Krawiec, President of the Management Board of PKN ORLEN which has AB Mažeikių nafta in its group of companies, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius discussed a possibility of selling out 9.98 % of the refinery shares held by the Government.
more »
Tomorrow, 9 December, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko is coming to Lithuania for a one-day working visit.
more »
The leaders of the nine Central and Eastern European EU members stated that the prospect of cutting carbon emissions will put the developing economies into difficulties.
more »