Saudi Arabia is the country we should have invaded after 9/11

To the editor,

Declare Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan: pull-out all our troops and equipment immediately.

— Nearly 1,7000 deaths of our servicemen and women.

— $460-billion expended.

Americans are not destined to be occupiers, and overseas policemen. Our military is not trained to hold and occupy foreign countries for great periods of time. Our solders, Marines and airmen are trained to attack and kill the enemy. We have an instinct for self-preservation and greatness after having endured Indian wars, revolution, civil war and invasion. The soul of the nation can live on forever and inspire future generations if we are careful where we carry our banner of freedom.

America is hated in the Middle East because we are viewed as occupiers. We might examine in full detail what we learned from our Vietnam humiliation. We swore that a Vietnam type war would not happen again. In Vietnam we conquered the enemy on the battle field. Our politicians sold us out at home We can confront the armies of the terrorists with Special Operations Forces using quick surgical pinpoint tactical strikes. We can move across the mountains of Afghanistan to the Indus River if need be. By occupying land we can not follow our national defense plan of warfare on an intercontinental field on multiple fronts stretching across thousands of miles. Instead of employing an occupying army, improvise and use innovative fighting techniques with disciplined, highly trained Special Operations units using brilliant speed and surprise on the battlefield.

It is unwise to get caught up in central Asian lands. We do not seek an overseas empire. What is most astonishing is that we have been in Afghanistan for over 10 years. We are doers not occupiers. We have fought in Kuwait, Somalia and Iraq and we continue to fight in Afghanistan and now Libya. Under President George H. W. Bush, who took us to Kuwait only to reinstall a rotten monarchy of sheiks that indulge in white slavery, refuse democracy or universal voting rights. We must move out of the Middle East or the president must clearly define our goals there.

We have the entire North American continent to pay attention to as well as budget deficit and debt issues. Our diplomatic and commercial contacts in this hemisphere should be massaged and our faithful friends considered. We must preserve our traditional way of life; ironically we are drawn into dramatic flourishes and have been caught up defending the Europeans for 40 years and their lifestyle and standard of living is now greater than ours. They spend little on their self defense, while we expend our tax payers dollars defending them and in mysterious places. In Europe and Asia U.S. military cemeteries are memorials and shrines to mark our fallen sons. In addition we still have 45,000 troops in Korea and more in Japan. We don’t need any dramatic flourish to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. We have shown our unprecedented determination to protect ourselves and to take revenge. We have an internationalist zeal in our political, economic and intellectual endeavors. We do not want to conquer the world. Global order is based on free trade, international law and raw American military might.

The 9/11 terrorists

We invaded the wrong country. Of 19 al-Qaeda terrorists that hijacked four American plans on a coordinated suicide attack on 9/11, 15 were from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There was one Egyptian, three from the United Arab Emirates and one Lebanese national. Osama bin Laden, the leader was a Saudi Arabian. The 19 hijackers died in the attacks. America responded by launching the War on Terror, invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban who had harbored al-Qaeda members , and by enacting the Patriot Act. The World Trade Center Complex in New York City collapsed. A total of 3,000 people died in the attacks.

In 1996 bin Laden and al-Qaeda were headquartered in the Sudan coordinating the 1998 African Embassy bombings. The decision to launch a “martyrdom operation inside America” on (9/11/01) was probably initiated in the Sudan. On May 1, 2011, President Barack (Barry) Hussain Obama announced that bin Laden had been killed in a firefight in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the “principal architect” of the 9/11 attacks stemmed from a “violent disagreement with U.S foreign policy favoring Israel”. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Motives for the terrorist attacks include the presence of the U.S in Saudi, the support of Israel by the U.S and the sanctions against Iraq.

Bin Laden said the Americans were “too near to Mecca”, Medina and the Kaaba (the region receives 13-million visitors every year on their Hajj or pilgrimage.) and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world. Perhaps we should have invaded Saudi Arabia after the Khobar Towers in Daharan, bombings and the 1998 United States embassy bombings. We are being provoked into a broader war against the Islamic world. This will only motivate more allies to support al-Qaeda and the Mujahideen. The situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated. The Afghans are not ready for a government with checks and balances.

Strangely, after the Twin Towers bombing on 9/11, President Bush secretly evacuated by plane all Saudi politicians and businessmen leaders and their families that were in the United States despite the grounding of all aircraft. Then we had the hasty passage of the the Patriot Act which Civil liberties groups have criticized.

My outspoken friends argue that corruption is prevalent everywhere and a way of life in Afghanistan.. The Imam’s accept it as they do martyrdom and scourging themselves. You have the Marxist-Islamics and leftists. The ayatollahs and mullahs want a return to Islamic law. They are contemptuous to the West. Iran is in internal revolution and the Chinese syndicates benefit from our bleeding with long term oil and mineral contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We invaded the wrong country, we should have marched into Saudi Arabia.

Bring all our military home now.

Richard Gunnar Juve

Meredith