Re: Former Powell aide says Bush, Cheney guilty of 'high crimes'

On May 14, 8:48 am, "WOTH" <dontbot...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Alan Lichtenstein" <a...@xxxxxxx> wrote in message


I guess I give the oil company gurus credit for being smarter than some of
you guys do. For instance, I can not imagine an oil compny expending the
massive amounts of money they must in order to discover new sources of oil
without having some pretty ironclad agreements signed in advance by the
foreign government involved. ARAMCO comes to mind. I remember when we built
the most phenomenal airport facility in Dharan Saudi Arabia at a cost of
over 6 million dollars back in the 60s only to have the Saudi government
take it away from us 6 months later. What ticks me off about those kinds of
events is that we don't just send in the troops and take it back. Then we
negotiate a sale.

Way Over The Hill

Is this the situation you're referring to? If it is, it doesn't look
like any contracts were broken or that the Saudis did anything to
deserve being invaded, etc.:

"In late 1944, with Ibn Saud's concurrence, the United States had
begun construction of an airfield at Dhahran as a staging base for
anticipated military flights from Europe to the Far East theater of
operations. In mid-construction, however, with war's end, the U.S.
military requirement for such a transit facility had receded. It now
became a Saudi international airport, consistent with ICAO standards.
Unable to man the technical requirements of such an airport, Ibn Saud
agreed that the U.S. Military Air Transport Command (MATS) might
continue to use and operate the airport. The initial pertinent U.S.-
Saudi bilateral agreement was renewed for a five-year period in 1957.
The new agreement included a commitment of U.S. grant-military aid in
training and equipment as rental for continued U.S.A.F. usage
privileges. By then, too, some U.S. economic assistance, largely in
the form of Philadelphia-minted Saudi silver riyals, had also been
provided.

The rise of Nasserism in the Arab world put pressure on the Saudis to
eliminate the "American military presence" in the kingdom. Responding
to such pressure, the Saudis informed the United States that they
would not renew the Dhahran airfield agreement when it expired in
1961. That agreement was terminated by mutual consent and with a
minimum of controversy. Since the Saudis were still technologically
unable to operate the Dhahran airport, an American private company,
the Vinnell Corporation, was engaged by the Saudi authorities to do
so. A U.S. Military Training Mission (USMTM), which had been
coterminous with another U.S.A.F. Command, was allowed continued use
of the airfield as its headquarters. Hart also recalls that in his
final year as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, he was able to arrange for a
U.S. Corps of Engineers mission, at Saudi request, to supervise
various contemplated Saudi military and development projects."

http://www.mepc.org/journal_vol6/9906_eilts.asp


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