Saudi Arabia is also home to the ‘capital’ of Islam the holy city of Mecca. So the religious class also has a large amount of power in this nation. As the Neo-Cons have used Islamophobia to drive their war plans this has meant that they have further alienated these people and made them one of the greatest enemies. So the strange dichotomy arises where the House Of Saud continues to declare its loyalty to the west and is an ally in the “War On Terror”. Yet Usama Bin Laden himself was born in Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda was originally made up of primarily Saudi fighters. The majority of the attackers who took part in the 9/11 assault were also of Saudi birth. Many suggest that millions of dollars of financing for some of the guerrilla armies that the Coalition is currently battling also flows out of Saudi Arabia. So again the US seems to have an ally on its side that is also causing it much pain.
This has led some Neo-Cons to place Saudi Arabia on their list of countries that they want to see attacked. However regime change would be out of the question as the regime is supposedly friendly to them. So how such an attack would take place would be an extremely delicate affair. At any rate this precarious situation of playing both sides would risk tearing the nation apart should a wider mess take place. If the US bombs Iran it is possible that Iran will fire missiles into Saudi Arabia to destroy its oil infrastructure.
But far more dangerous for the Saudis will be the internal upheaval. Terrorist attacks against western interests often sees the Royalist army fighting with guerrillas in the streets of Saudi cities. This has increased over the last 4 years since the invasion of Iraq. This low level friction may erupt to full blown civil war in the event of the greater war starting. It may even see the House of Saud being deposed and then it is anyone’s guess who the sizeable Saudi army would be used against. It could be used to attack Israel or it could be sent across the border into Iraq to do battle with the Coalition there. And if they lost their greatest source of oil the US would be quick to launch a massive counter strike in an attempt to recapture the nation. This could see Saudi Arabia becoming one of the key theatres in this world war.
