“In August 1995, bin Laden made a decisive break with his homeland. In what he labeled a ‘frank manifesto,’ bin Laden attacked King Fahd [of Saudi Arabia] directly in one of his faxed commentaries…[saying] that the king himself was an infidel. …’It is unconscionable to let the country become an American colony with American soldiers–their filthy feet roaming everywhere–for no reason other than protecting your throne and protecting oil sources for their own use,’ he wrote. ‘These filthy infidel Crusaders must not be allowed to remain in the Holy Land.’ …Many Saudis shared his hostility to the continuing American presence in the Kingdom, especially after [former Secretary of Defense] Dick Cheney’s well-known pledge that they would leave. …But the Saudi bases were convenient and well appointed, and there didn’t seem to be a sufficiently pressing need to leave.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Pages 238-239