Interesting article on suicide attacks

[Grey_Fox]

It is the fact the US troops are visible marching around Saudi Arabia (which is holy ground to Muslims) that is bothering the fundamentalists. In the First Gulf War, the Saudi's were extremely irritated to see female soldiers and they requested that the chaplains did not wear insignia while there.

By keeping troops on boats or in Turkey (a member of NATO and more progressive than Saudi Arabia, which is what I believe Pape means by "bases near the region" - not in the Middle East, but near it), they are removing the visible presence of troops in a volatile region while reassuring the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that troops are nearby.

After the first Gulf War, many Saudi's protested against the US presence in Saudi Arabia, that their presence defiled their holy lands, and demanded that they be sent home. These demands were not addressed and the house of Saud is seen by too many Saudi's as being traitors.

Muslims dislike the presence of Western troops in the Middle East as they invoke memories of Crusaders.

It does not matter what Bush says about withdrawal, they do not believe him as they have been lied to by the Americans before, and they still remember with disgust and hatred the shooting down of an aircraft full of Iranians by the USS Vincennes.