can the American presence in Saudi be compared to something like moving the NATO head qarter to the Vatikan ?
The reason for me to ask this question is that Saudi Arabia is viewed as a holy country to most muslims - and that the American presence there was the thing that turned Bin Laden into a terrorist.
I know there are several differences between the Vatikan and Saudi, but the Vatikan is also seen upon as a holy place for many christians and Europeans - and let’s not forget: the pope lives there.
That’s actually a pretty decent question… Does Osama bin Laden &c consider the whole of Saudi Arabia to be holy land? What about other, less radical Muslim groups?
I was always under the impression that Osama didn’t want American troops in Saudi because they represented a threat to Saudi’s two holy cities, Mecca and Medina. In that case it would be more like someone being ticked at NATO for having troops stationed in Genoa and therefore threatening the Vatican.
I believe the parallel would be more in line with NATO moving its HQ to Genoa then The Vatican. (I know, technically The Vatican is its own state, but come on, its not even a city, really…) Its not like Centcom HQ is in Mecca or Medina.
