ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews the history of the US-Saudi security relationship, highlighting the tensions Riyadh has experienced in trying to maintain its defense links to Washington while asserting, for domestic and regional audiences, its independence from the United States. It examines the background of the Saudi decision to invite US and other forces into the kingdom after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. The chapter explores the developments in the US-Saudi relationship since the Gulf War, including the fallout for bilateral relations, the 9/11 attacks, and the Iraq war. The Saudi defense policy dilemma is the direct product of the country's oil wealth and the political strategy the regime has chosen for using that wealth. In the 1950s, the pattern of Saudi desire for a close US security relationship and US reticence to give formal defense commitments was reversed. US military supplies to the kingdom during the 1950s were substantial—well over one hundred tanks of various types and thirty-seven aircraft.