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As we approach the inauguration of the new administration, it becomes necessary to at least enunciate and discuss ways and means available to the president-elect to solve the problems of the Middle East.

There is a need to secure a place in the Middle East to safeguard our interests, save lives, and provide stability in the region, with all the advantages therein.

For the above I believe that a unique solution to any and all the problems there is to build a permanent fort, called SAIK -- Saudi-Iraq-Kuwait -- along the border shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, that will satisfy all the objectives listed above.

Although Iraq is not involved along the mentioned border, it may be useful to include its initial in the fort acronym, because in one way or another they will be part of the process.

By necessity, our government must be involved there, simply because no other nation in the world will be able to tackle the security in that region. Other nations can participate as allies, just to get the oil out and do other business, but no one can produce a military intervention in large scale like we can.

When our armed forces begin drawing down from Iraq, some must be redeployed in the region to maintain stability there. I spent a number of years working in the Middle East, and know the lay of the land. As a matter of fact, several geopolitical charts show two Neutral Zones between the 46th and the 48th parallels, just south of the Kuwait border, with sufficient land to build, and the second with an outlet to the Saudi Gulf.

Historically, these neutral territories were established during a series of treaties negotiated in the 1920s. They have since been partitioned, but can and should be the location of the proposed Fort SAIK, as well as a second base.

The basic justification of building a fort there is to protect our interests, stabilize the region, and particularly protect the Saudis, because the danger of terror infiltration is constant there.

The Saudis alone could not protect such extensive territories by potential intruders, and if that happens we will also jeopardize our imports and create more hardships for our industries and commerce.

This is a point that requires prompt attention of our government executives. The lack of proper security and stabilization in the Middle East will directly affect our economy. While we try to solve the economic problems here at home, we simply delay or forget the fact that the Middle East is part of the problem.

The time to address that portion of the problem is now. We could progressively re-deploy our ground troops from Iraq and 10 percent of them could be used to build up the fort with weapons and support from the Navy and Air Force.

While we discuss the buildup, we should also mention some kind of barter, i.e. exchange of military protection for a substantial discount on oil imports, which we also need to stabilize the gas prices at the pumps back home (which will go back up). Once we get that under control, and knowing that the price will remain low for a sizable period of time, than we can reasonably start thinking of finding new sources of energy -- but first things first.

We could offset the cost of present military occupation in Iraq with a much smaller investment in the fort expenditures. We may even get the land for nothing, in exchange for military protection.

If properly managed this strategy could bring substantial results, for us and our allies, including Israel. Similar ventures have been undertaken in Panama, Gibraltar, Suez, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas.

The coming troop redeployment is important. Let's make sure we do it right.

The writer has worked on the Saudi-Kuwait border on the design, implementation, and protection of natural resources there.