Article

2020-02-27 Arabia

Thousands Of US Troops Return to PSAB After 17-Year Absence To 'Deter Iran'

[Zero] After a nearly 17 year absence, US troops have returned Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base. The last time the base, which lies about 60 miles outside of Riyadh, saw an American presence was in 2003, after which the troops moved to Qatar.

The American troop surge into the gulf region to curtail Iran continues even as the world is focused on the coronavirus pandemic, which appears to be spreading in the Middle East.

While the Pentagon focuses on "deterring Iran," the Islamic Republic is busy dealing with a very different and more immediately devastating threat. Coronavirus has killed 19 Iranians among 139 confirmed to be infected, as we reported earlier, and one lawmaker has claimed that the true death toll is actually much higher.

Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-27 03:57|| || Front Page|| [9 views ] Top

#1 The USAF folks at PSAB enforced the Southern No-Fly Zone in Iraq during our unpleasantness with Saddam.

Posted by Besoeker 2020-02-27 07:00|| 2020-02-27 07:00|| Front Page Top

#2 We don't need Saudi oil. We're self-sufficient now.

If Europeans need the oil, let them send their militaries. The US is not a mercenary force. Hell, that implies being paid - we're doing this for free. Because we're idiots, apparently.

Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-02-27 07:11|| 2020-02-27 07:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Who's we kemosabe?

Posted by swksvolFF 2020-02-27 08:12|| 2020-02-27 08:12|| Front Page Top

#4 Love to agree with you. But it's about more than our oil independence. Except for the oil ticks, everybody else has to drink from the world oil market. If that gets messed up, we're going to have a lot of trouble and we'll get pulled in anyway. The historical record of the Yurps running their own affairs is poor and gets us into trouble anyway.

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2020-02-27 14:52|| 2020-02-27 14:52|| Front Page Top

#5 What Richard Aubrey said.

Sing along, 'Erb:
The Mideast Oil bone's connected to the ... Asian economic bone
Asia bone connected to the ... US economic bone

Posted by Lex 2020-02-27 15:41|| 2020-02-27 15:41|| Front Page Top

#6 Have we evacuated Incirlik ...yet?

Posted by magpie 2020-02-27 17:01|| 2020-02-27 17:01|| Front Page Top

#7 "Get pulled in"? No we won't. We'll be fine.

The more we disconnect from slave labor in Asia, the better. Let them deal with their own problems. We're not World Police. You want to be World Police, you grab a rifle and get out there and get a leg blown off by an IED.

Posted by Herb McCoy 2020-02-27 17:15|| 2020-02-27 17:15|| Front Page Top

#8 ...Was there with OSW Jan-Jul 95 - "If It Flies, It Dies."

And PSAB is best described as nothing in the middle of empty.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2020-02-27 17:30|| 2020-02-27 17:30|| Front Page Top

#9 Except for the oil ticks, everybody else has to drink from the world oil market.

Precisely. How'd you like to be running for re-election while consumers are dealing with $6 gasoline?

Posted by Zhang Fei 2020-02-27 21:21|| 2020-02-27 21:21|| Front Page Top

#10 On the map, it looks like quite the location - Gulf of Rumsfield, Red Sea, Yemen.

Article talks of having to re-build what was the US section, so this isn't something happening overnight.

Article also says F-15s. I'm not so sure about that. I'd go F-15s and ....? but not just F-15s. Seems a person would want some sort of surveillance platform with loiter and range, and some QRF platform(s) which could go thump a ballistic missile launcher.

Posted by swksvolFF 2020-02-27 21:51|| 2020-02-27 21:51|| Front Page Top

#11 Herb. The family has paid its dues all over the world. I was Infantry. The problems we were dealing with were started by Yurp incompetence and arrogance. See an explanation of the origin of WW I, for example. I don't know whether it takes a hit of LSD to understand it better, or trying to understand it is better than a hit of LSD.

Posted by Richard Aubrey 2020-02-27 23:02|| 2020-02-27 23:02|| Front Page Top

02:08 Grom the Reflective
00:54 Besoeker
00:41 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
00:40 EMS Artifact
00:22 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
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00:11 Besoeker