Prince Sultan Airbase http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...nce-sultan.htm I had been only dimly aware of this sprawling military complex, just outside Riyadh, until my daughter, who had a top secret security clearance, was invited to apply for a civilian job at the base, upon leaving the Air Force. [She was offered a contract including housing, travel, etc., plus a salary of $200,000 to work there for one year, during the run up to the invasion of Iraq. Her work, prior to that, had been four stories underground, in a concrete and lead shielded command center at Offutt Air Force Base, from which the combined strategic nuclear forces of the U.S., Naval and Air Force, are directed.] She didn't take the job, because she wanted to continue her education, but it made me more aware of the place, and how its presence there, in the heart of the lands holy to Muslims, could have acted as a trigger to 911.
As far as the U.S. immigration check points near the borders, I've been stopped at these in my car in California, Arizona and New Mexico, some distance from the border (I think RG's 75 miles estimate is about right). And this was several years ago (possibly post 9-11, I don't remember) but they are definitely not new.
Rivergirl wrote: Rivergirl, were any of those you spoke of able to benefit from the information quoted above, or did they find their situations too irredeemable for it to matter.
I personally have encountered a number of checkpoints in Texas, California and Arizona and NM. We tend to travel the backroads and that could be why we ran into so many.
