Viper Pilot_ A Memoi..

one of the rooftop sentries could detect an attack (and one did see the tanker truck
pull up on June 25) there was no quick way to sound an alert. There was no siren
that could be activated by the sentries, because the wing leadership decided it
would offend the local Saudis. Any information or suspicious activity had to be
called in to Central Security Control, then passed to the Wing Operations Center
and finally to the Wing Commander before a decision could be made. The
“system” was, in a word, useless.
I freely acknowledge it was a tough security situation and the likelihood of
Saudi cooperation was pretty small, but I never saw evidence that Schwalier tried
to press the issues with them. Or with the American chain of command. I contend
the root problem was his failure to take a hard line with our so-called hosts to
ensure the security of the U.S. servicemen at Khobar. Both the military and civilian
leadership seemed to me more concerned with not offending the Saudis than they
were with the safety of our people.
Ultimately, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah al-Hejaz (Party of God) was found
responsible for the attacks. Thirteen Saudi nationals and one Lebanese man were
indicted by the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia, but there has been no justice
to date. These terrorists remain on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Although Schwalier was eventually cleared and his actions found not to be
culpable for the attacks, my opinion of him remains unchanged. Doing everything
possible to protect your people is a fundamental command principle. It can’t
always be achieved, especially in combat, but a good leader would fall on his sword
over conditions like this, and I don’t believe Schwalier made the necessary efforts.
He didn’t make any waves in the interest of our security that I could see, and the
result was nineteen dead Americans and hundreds more like me who live with their
injuries every day. Remember, we’re not talking about a civilian company that
makes computer chips or sells fast food. This is the front-line military, deployed on
foreign soil. Not doing enough doesn’t damage a corporate bottom line—it gets
people killed.
More broadly, the Khobar bombing was a warning of just how ominously
unprepared the military leadership was to face the post–Cold War security reality,
where extremist groups can pose as much of a threat as state-sponsored fighters.
(This new state of affairs would, in time, change everything—from training to
weapon systems to tactics.) In August 1996, a month after the attack, Osama bin
Laden issued a fatwa titled “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying
the Land of the Two Holy Places,” referring to the U.S. military presence in Saudi
Arabia (home of the Muslim holy sites Mecca and Medina). While bin Laden’s