Saudi Arabia: Friend or foe?

Uploaded on February 11, 2007by Fares Najd

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Pulitizer Prize winning journalist, Karen Elliott House, sums up the confusing signals coming from Saudi Arabia:

The regime talks about Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Israel having common strategic interests in the Middle East, including containing extremist forces in the region and blocking Iranian domination. But as yet they haven't stepped up to join Egypt and Jordan in recognizing Israel. For all the concern about U.S. failure in Iraq, the oil rich kingdom isn't helping U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for a war whose outcome is at least as important to Saudi Arabia as the U.S. For all the fears about Iranian domination of the region, the Saudi response beyond multiple levels of dialogue, is to hope that the U.S. solves the problem.

Yet, as imperfect an ally as Saudi Arabia may be, as House goes on to observe:

In a part of the world where America has few friends and many enemies, King Abdullah is a last best hope for the U.S. as well as the Saudis. What will follow him, regardless of whether there is an orderly succession, almost certainly will be less to America's liking.