President Bush Tuesday ordered troops to Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich kingdom to protect it from any Iraqi threat.

Troops sent included airborne units from Ft. Bragg, N.C., Fort Stewart, Ga., and Fort Campbell, Ky.

“Prudence is the order of the day,” said NIU political science associate professor Martin Dubin, in response to Bush’s actions.

President Bush should be careful in regard to anything the United States does to protect the Saudi Arabians or pressure the Iraquis, Dubin said.

“Once we get involved (in Saudi Arabia) we may be trapped,” he said.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, meeting in Egypt, was also looking for Egypt’s approval to move the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier into the Suez Canal.

The United States might be expecting Egyptian assistance to provide international defense of Saudi Arabia from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who recently invaded Kuwait.

Daniel Kempton, an NIU political science assistant professor, said, “The U.S. is trying to provide a credible deterrent in Saudi Arabia.”

“There’s a lot of muscle flexing going on,” Kempton said. U.S. troops going into Saudi Arabia is not necessarily a prelude to military action, he said.

Dave Loebach, an NIU graduate student and former faculty member in the NIU Military Science department said, “We tried to do things in a firm action and stop the aggressive action there,” but they were left no choice.

It is unfortunate that the United States had to employ troops, but it does not seem like there were many choices, Loebach, also a freelance arbitrator, said.

“I understand it. This guy (Hussein) has got out of sync with the rest of the world,” he said.

Turkey started putting pressure on Iraq Tuesday when it stopped tankers from loading oil from an Iraqi pipeline that passes through Turkish territory to the Mediterranean.

Turkey’s movement is part of a worldwide trade embargo in effect against Iraq because of its invasion of Kuwait.