On the morning of September 11, 2001, a Saudi pilot trained to fly in the US slammed a Boeing 757 jetliner into the Pentagon, killing more than 180 people.
Less than a decade later, with the Middle East in a state of upheaval and following the recent arrest of a Saudi college student on bomb charges, the Pentagon is planning to bring dozens of Saudis to the US to train them to fly - and to kill. Since 2007 alone, more than 1,000 Royal Saudi Air Force personnel have attended USAF training programs, including pilot, navigator, logistics, maintenance and explosive ordnance disposal training, as well as professional military education courses."
The air force failed to answer repeated requests for further information about Saudi air combat training and the use of armaments by Saudi pilots flying in the US.
When the subject of security concerns were brought up to US Senator Risch, he stayed mum, a spokesman telling me that he "is deferring any comment until a formal announcement is made about the training mission".
But when the same question was posed to US Senator Crapo, he pointed out that the "US air force has been training members of the Saudi Royal Air Force on US soil for over 25 years" and that Saudi Arabia "screens each individual prior to assignment in the US".
For more America's Saudi air war - Features - Al Jazeera English
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