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U.S. Army Engineers in the Gulf War
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does hereby remise, release, and forever
discharge the U.S. government, its officers, agents, and employees from
liability, or claims against the U.S. government, its officers, agents, and
employees arising out of said lease and the occupation by the U.S.
government of the leased property.
On 5 January, Stevens resubmitted the form with this paragraph excised,
but Saudi officials remained dissatisfied. They then objected to the clause stating
that the Saudi government agreed to perform
duties and covenants contained
in the lease.35
General Stevens resubmitted the revised form to the Ministry of Defense
and Aviation on 26 January, and this time the ministry accepted it. Saudi
officials agreed to comply with the terms of the existing leases to include
payment of rental costs, water and electricity, and maintenance of the leased
areas. Yet, they reserved the right to renegotiate the terms of the lease in
accordance with Saudi laws, provided that renegotiation did not require any
American military unit to vacate the leased premises. No lease would be
canceled before it expired unless the leased premises had been vacated and the
U.S. government agreed to the cancellation.
But the issue did not die. A few weeks later Brigadier General Addul Aziz
Al-Hussein, director of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation's Joint Forces
Support Unit, reiterated that the transfer agreement must contain the clause,
" t h a t the government of the KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] reserves the right
to alter/change the contracts or cancel them, and/or negotiate their prices
without jeopardizing the availability of real estate based on regulations adopted
by the KSA." General Stevens had previously rejected this provision.36
The lease assignments process continued to falter. By the end of the ground
war in late February, the Ministry of Defense and Aviation had
not signed
any of the 21 lease assignments that CENTCOM had transmitted. In the first
half of March, it accepted 27 lease assignments. It did not accept any lease with
rent due, though it had not officially indicated that the status of rental payment
was a criterion for acceptance.
Faced with the ministry's failure to accept lease assignments where rent was
due, Cox and Miller took a firm stance. They decided that the United States
would not pay any further rent. Savannah District officials objected, arguing
that this decision could jeopardize the use of leased facilities by U.S. troops.
Rather, they suggested, the United States should continue to pay the rent until
the Saudis accepted the assignments. Failure to make the payments, the real
estate specialists warned, would do nothing to encourage the Ministry of
Defense and Aviation to accept the lease assignments but would put the United
States "in bad standing" with the lessors.
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