[Tokhtamish]

It really makes about as much sense as planning an attack on a USA refinery. The Saudi Govt would be only hurting itself if it decided to hurt the USA because we are the financiers for their economic system. Granted the theocratic element in Saudi is full of he hate mes, but the govt?, I doubt it. Why would they screw with a good thing? (Money for oil).

Since when do religious fanatics care about money ? They viscerally resent us. They resent our power, our wealth, our freedom which in and of itself stands as a rebuke to they who believe themselves the chosen of God and entitled to dominate us infidels. It is a theocratic state. There is no distinction between the religious establishment and the government.

[sinkspur]

Since when do religious fanatics care about money ?

Everybody cares about money, including the princes who run Saudi Arabia. There may be Muslims in Saudi, but those who run the country care very much about keeping the oil flowing and would throw Wahabbism overboard if it meant giving up their comfy lifestyles.

We could cripple their economy before they could cripple ours.

[kinghorse]

After reading a little more history, I think I've regained my perspective. What we have here is a people who, until recently, have never known autonomy. What is now Saudi Arabia was for a very long time a land of simple nomads effectively managed by local Turkish magistrates. Turkish Ottaman rule, temporarily restrained by English American design, may be back in ascension. Would it be a bad thing to revert control of what was theirs for so long. Talking about everything from the Lebanese Mediterranean to the Eastern Arabian coastal town of Riyadh. The Saudis have been pretty poor custodians of the wealth and comfort America has granted them. Right??

But then I splash cold water on my face and neck, open this web page and realize everything said here is so far off the chart out in neocon land that unless there is some serious seed change in the American government bureaucracy, nothing changes. Liberal political correctness seeps from every pore of the political apparatus. You don't change 8 years of Clinton appointments overnight. Read em and weep.

http://usembassy.state.gov/riyadh/