[mullingitover]

The funny coincidence with that story: Osama bin Laden's stated purpose for the 9/11 attacks was, in part, the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia. The US announced the withdrawal of troops from Saudi Arabia on April 29, 2003. Four days later Bush made that "Mission Accomplished" speech as the US was effectively complying with bin Laden's demand and surrendering their presence in Saudi Arabia.

[redis_mlc]

Whether the individual phrases in your comment are true in isolation or not, the implied cause and effect are not logical.

> surrendering their presence in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia pays the US to occupy military bases temporarily during crises, for example when Iraq annexed Kuwait. I presume the contract ended, and the US military left. It's not any more complicated than that.

One of the reasons that Saudi Arabia trusts the US is that the US has rarely occupied a country in modern times with a plan for long-term occupation or colonization. They either leave, or maintain a base, and then leave.

That's very unlike Russia, for example, whose doctrine is that if a country shares a border, then they get permanently occupied.