Military Moving

U.S. Will Move Air Operations to Qatar from Saudi Arabia. Good. Many Saudis weren’t too happy with us there and

or the military, however, Qatar is a more congenial location. A tiny nation of 750,000 people, Qatar has come to view the United States as its main protector in the region.

Qatar built Al Udeid Air Base in 1996 at the cost of more than $1 billion. The nation did not have an air force at the time, but it wanted to encourage the United States military to base its aircraft there.

Of course:

“We are not leaving Saudi Arabia,” a senior administration official said today.

There will still be some military there, but is seems generally good to move some military out of a country where a lot of the population is hostile to your presence if there is a good alternative.