Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (10509)	9/12/2006 12:07:14 AM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37184

I know that is Jack Layton's approach. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! You are jumping to conclusions. I first proposed addressing Islamic concerns and delegitimizing them in one of my posts some time in early October 2001 on the Gold Price Monitor thread! I believe it is still there. Maybe Jack Layton saw and read my post and is using that phrase that I wrote nearly 5 years ago!!! However, I have to admit that it is entirely possible other writers could have come up with the same phrase independently of me. <g> ----------- By the way, at long last, Bush is beginning to show signs of addressing and delegitimizing Islamic claims/concerns: Revisiting Bush's Withdrawal of Troops from Saudi Arabia On this fifth anniversary of September 11th, I thought it made sense to revisit this story: America to withdraw troops from Saudi Arabia. Last week, I was in a discussion with a defense department employee and he didn't believe the story. America began a historic reshaping of its presence in the Middle East yesterday, announcing a halt to active military operations in Saudi Arabia and the removal of almost all of its forces from the kingdom within weeks. The withdrawal ends a contentious 12-year-old presence in Saudi Arabia and marks the most dramatic in a set of sweeping changes in the deployment of American forces after the war in Iraq. Withdrawal of "infidel" American forces from Saudi Arabia has been one of the demands of Osama bin Laden, although a senior US military official said that this was "irrelevant". ... Behind the dry talk of rearranging America's military "footprint" in the Gulf, the great imponderables were bin Laden and Muslim radicals' complaints about the presence of "infidels" in the birthplace of Islam. That presence was cited as one of the main justifications for the September 11 attacks. Despite American insistence that the withdrawal had not been "dictated" by al-Qa'eda and that bin Laden was "irrelevant", there can be little doubt that undercutting a central plank of al-Qa'eda's platform is one of several advantages offered by withdrawal from Saudi Arabia. I think it's fair to ask questions about whether a decision like this after the 9-11 attacks emboldened Bin Laden and his followers more than it undercut popular resentment of the U.S. Personally, I think Saudi Arabia wanted to reduce the threat it has from within from Arab populists who want their kingdom to return rule to the people or religious rulers - many of whom are Al Qaida sympathizers. So, did Bush give in to Bin Laden on this demand? Certainly seems so. UPDATE: Here's another link from Media Matters... On MSNBC's Hardball, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund falsely asserted that the United States has maintained "the same number of troops" in Saudi Arabia "that we had five years ago, about 16,000." In fact, the State Department reported that the United States withdrew its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and a July report by the Congressional Research Service stated that about 300 U.S. military personnel remain there. Moreover, five years ago, there were reportedly about 5,000 troops in Saudi Arabia.