{"id":1765,"date":"2003-05-07T01:57:54","date_gmt":"2003-05-07T06:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1765"},"modified":"2003-05-07T01:57:54","modified_gmt":"2003-05-07T06:57:54","slug":"quietly_us_military_meets_bin_ladens_main_demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/05\/quietly_us_military_meets_bin_ladens_main_demand\/","title":{"rendered":": Quietly, US Military Meets Bin Laden’s Main Demand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n
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It\u2019s hard to believe there was once a time when 100% of the US military\u2019s attention was focused on finding Osama bin Laden<\/a>, the architect of the 9\/11 attacks. Since those early days, when this endeavor had nearly universal support around the world, bin Laden has slipped to the back pages<\/a> of the newspapers, and then finally out of the spotlight altogether. Every now and then, you might hear a peep from somewhere \u2013 Pakistani officials claiming that bin Laden is still wandering<\/a> the border mountains, or an audio tape<\/a> of dubious authenticity surfaces. But for the most part, bin Laden is yesterday\u2019s news. However, while the trail of bin Laden grew colder, the heat on Iraq got hotter, and as the world\u2019s attention is focused on the soap opera of Iraqi reconstruction<\/a>, the US military has quietly resolved bin Laden\u2019s main grievance<\/a> against America by withdrawing all forces<\/a> from Saudi Arabia. The move is sure to ease tensions<\/a> between the Saudis and the US, as the US military presence (along with the war) was profoundly unpopular<\/a> with Saudi locals. Of course, military officials claim that there are perfectly good reasons for this \u2013 the Iraqi threat is gone, the Gulf states are better equipped, troop reductions are necessary. But when put into the context of the overall US effort to secure justice against Al-Qaida for 9\/11, the message is one of impotence, frustration, and capitulation. And don\u2019t expect a renewed effort to find bin Laden anytime soon, since it\u2019s unlikely to produce glorious photo-ops (and re-election commercials) like toppling statues<\/a> and \u201cTop Gun<\/a>\u201d flight deck antics can.<\/p>\n

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Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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With the world distracted by the events in Iraq, the US has quietly met one of bin Laden’s key demands: withdrawal of US forces from Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"\n: Quietly, US Military Meets Bin Laden’s Main Demand<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the world distracted by the events in Iraq, the US has quietly met one of bin Laden's key demands: withdrawal of US forces from Saudi Arabia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2003\/05\/quietly_us_military_meets_bin_ladens_main_demand\/\" 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