“The post 9/11 revaluation of the U.S.-Saudi alliance has precipitated a highly ironic outcome: bin Laden’s call for the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia has since been echoed by American officials. …That same month [January 27, 2002] President Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., told CNN that the United States was interested in ‘reducing the U.S. footprint’ in Saudi Arabia and that it would ‘happen over time.’ ”
– Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc., Pages 236-237, 291