Four Saudi jet fighters were flying patrol near the Kuwaiti frontier last week when their radios crackled an alert. Peeling off, they intercepted a pair of Iraqi fighters heading toward gulf waters where British warships were operating. Captain Ayedh al-Shamrani swerved his U.S.-built F-15 behind the Mirage F-1s and shot both out of the sky. Returning to base in Dhahran, the Saudi pilot received a hero's welcome. Said the modest Shamrani: "It was my day."
In the long run-up to war with Iraq, U.S. allies often seemed to be little more than hitchhikers on an American battlewagon. Assembling in the sandy...