Quote:
Originally Posted by PPCollision
In 1998, Osama bin laden was on a hunting trip with a Saudi Prince in Afghanistan. Both Osama and Saudi prince were in the same camp.
The USA army had this information. They were prepared to launch a tomahawk cruise missile strike on Osama. But Bill Clinton cancelled the missile strike at the last moment just to save the Saudi Prince.
Otherwise Osama bin laden would have dead in 1998.
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1998 was before bin Laden was disinherited by his father and then declared persona non grata by the Saudis. Bin Ladin sr. was the largest contractor in the middle east at that time, and a very highly favored commoner by the Saudi princes, of which there are many. Senior's many sons remain favorites of the government; they all are following in Dad's footsteps. Osama was the black sheep of the family, and the only Wahabist.
Killing a prince then or now would mean the loss of a vital ally to the U.S.
Although the Saudis play both sides of the fence, as they were the first to support the Wahabi extremists who turned bin Ladin into a radical, as an ally it is still better for the U.S. to be in the same tent pissing out with them than to be on the outside pissing in.