SAUDIS CONFIRM PLANS TO END U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE
ABU DHABI [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia has confirmed that Western military troops
will leave the kingdom later this year.

Saudi officials said U.S., British and French forces would leave the kingdom
after the conclusion of a war against Iraq. They said Saudi Arabia would
relay a formal request to NATO countries to end their military presence once
the regime of President Saddam Hussein is toppled and order is restored in
Iraq.

More than 5,000 Western troops, most of them U.S. Air Force personnel, are
deployed in the Prince Sultan Air Base. Saudi Arabia has permitted the NATO
members use of the air base to monitor the no-fly zones in northern and
southern Iraq.

But Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled Bin Sultan said he expects
the United States and its allies to end the no-fly zones over the next year.
He said this will prompt the departure of the Western military forces from
the kingdom.
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