(AP/Washington Post) - During the Iraq war, Saudi Arabia secretly helped the U.S. far more than has been acknowledged, allowing operations from at least three air bases, permitting special forces to stage attacks from Saudi soil, and providing cheap fuel, U.S. and Saudi officials say. The American air campaign against Iraq was essentially managed from inside Saudi borders, where military commanders operated an air command center and launched refueling tankers, F-16 fighter jets, and sophisticated intelligence gathering flights, according to the officials. Thousands of special forces soldiers were permitted to stage operations into Iraq from inside Saudi Arabia, once Turkey declined to allow U.S. forces to operate from its soil.
2004-04-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive