to Dave above, one fact rarely mentioned (certainly not by Taliban) is that AMerica just a few months ago gave 42million $ in aid (food, medicine delivery systems etc) Someone said possibly in another thread that you cant possibly guard against all forms of terrorism what if the next attack is a suitcase nuke in a large American city, I think it would be safe to say that pretty much of the Islamic world would be reduced to dust in a few hours including their holy cities. Since one US submarine carries enough warheads to do this. Maybe there is some deterrent to these people who are outraged by American troops being stationed in Saudi, defiling their soil - since there wont be any holy soil left to defile.