"We had every excuse after 9-11 to finally seriously screw with Saudi Arabia, and we didn't take the chance. Once we started pulling troops out, we could have taken a much harder line with them. They aren't much better than Hussein and it is hypocritical that we treat them as allies when they hate us."
The clinching term you used there, though unintended, is when you said you 'didn't take the chance'. It's for good reason the US never went after Saudi Arabia, and in fact covered up much of their involvement with groups the US likes to call terrorist groups. Since we're talking about powerful lawmakers I won't point out that their actions of covering up evidence and denying that evidence exists is criminal behavior easily proven if in a court of law. Saudi Arabia has a relationship of convenience with the US. That's undeniable. A large part of Saudi politics involves those who sympathize with the supposed "Al-Queda" mindset and an even larger part who despise the US and their policies towards Muslims. As with everything else with Washington's politics it's all about the oil. The US would be shut down within one month of being cut off from Saudi oil, and that day may be closer than you think. I doubt you all know this but Saudi Arabia is ruled by a monarchy, meaning one family's running the show. There's dismal prospects for equal rights and in fact the people have no say in the policies of their country. It's an oppressive society, which we know breeds rage. And how can your country take a harder line with Saudi Arabia after they withdraw their troops i.e. only way to have any real control of events on the ground? Hard line implies force which implies troops. But do you really not understand that Saudi Arabia isn't an ally of the US but rather has an arranged convenient relationship which guarantees things coming to a head some time in the future? Oil oil oil. The US needs it. They control it. And they will do so with force as we all have seen. The Iraqi Oil Ministry was spared any damage, even during the lawless looting the Americans allowed to run free. The US took control of the major oilfields first and CNN and FOX even reported that. There will be some sort of turn around in relations with Saudi Arabia when a nationalist party overthrows the monarchy and rules over Saudi politics, acting for a self-sufficient Saudi Arabia and a free Saudi Arabia. You all may scoff as much as you like but this is going to be a reality some time in the future. There is no doubt that if a hostile regime takes over in Saudi Arabia, and remember, the US is convincingly dependent on Saudi oil for it to even function, there is a good probability the supply of oil to the US would be drastically reduced. Any US planner already knows this, and they already have a plan in place I'm sure. The choices will generally be twofold. First, the US could (as they have before) deal with the new 'terrorist regime' and do some sort of political manoevering where they can maintain the levels of oil currently being supplied to the US. This is unlikely because: setting up and maintaining contacts and diplomatic channels with 'terror organizations' or 'terror regimes' can only be done on a maintainable and manageable scale, meaning small scale easy to place in the back pages of the New York Times (waaayyyyy further back from the articles Judith Miller was chugging out of her propadanda offices. Propaganda is a fair term when you consider that not one outlandish claim of hers were true. Not a one). For the US to have diplomatic ties with an openly 'hostile terror regime' is not feasible when it's a nation that accounts for 60% (!) of the world's oil consumption. And the American public's angry reaction to such an outrage will definitely lead the US to the second part of the twofold choice. Outright US invasion and takeover i.e. occupation (for the Saudi people's benefit of course) of Saudi Arabia. To free it from an 'evil regime'. Think about it people. Think rationally. This would be a mouth-watering orgasm for the American planners and their Israeli counterparts. Saudi Arabia with the world's largest known oil reserves under US control. Iraq and the world's second largest known oil reserves under US control. And this will all be done under the guise of freeing the Saudi people from whatever 'evil regime' has taken over control of Saudi Arabia. The only pure speculation coming from me here is the source of the 'evil regime'. I have to wonder if the UAE, along with all their oil reserves, will somehow be brought into the so-called war on terror and the next new fear in the terror fantasyland. The media has been pretty silent about that little spot on the Middle East map. There's a reason for it.
Overall the US is in a position where it is able to take over all of the world's major oil deposits. Those pesky oil deposits which is the source of so much heartache and so many deaths. This is old news though. I know no one here will know it and the rest will never be able to understand or believe it, but the American oil industry was a backing force behind the eventual US intervention and actual invasion against South Vietnam. Anyone know why they should bother to get involved in world politics? For access to Indochinese oil deposits. You could have known about this fact except the CIA saw it fit to get the book banned and it was never ever published. The link shall be at the end of my text.
Before you run to the head of the "indochina's got shite for oil deposits" line let's take a look at something that happened in Vietnam that is of great interest to all but the US media and therefore you as well. After more than half a century of decimation first by the French and then by the US, Vietnam needed to get some industries going to provide itself with some or any tiny developments which could help it recover from the pillaged status to something which would help them recover their self-respect. The US Big Oil multi-national companies told them their lands were barren of oil deposits. That there was no chance for them to recover their country by means of oil wealth. "Cutting edge" technology, western technology, said there was no oil to be had. Let's look at the truth behind that while remembering why US would have a great interest in keeping Vietnam at one of the lowest peasant status' in the world thereby nullifying any of their reasonable shots at vengeance against the US. Here starts the Soviet's slap in the US's face. Russia told the Vietnamese they had been conned. So Russia, after supplying arms to American-killing Vietnamese troops for over a decade, sent their oil experts to set up a no-risk joint venture, where the Russians would supply the technologists and equipment to Vietnam, and if oil was found Russia would get a meagre percentage of whatever they can pump out of the ground. The end product was the White Tiger oil field which is "currently producing high quality crude oil from basalt rock more than 17,000 feet below the surface of the earth, at 6,000 barrels per day per well". You all will likely think it another mere coincidence that US relations with Vietnam reopened not long after Vietnam joined the coveted list of oil producing nations. Ultra-deep oil wells are something that passed by the US's nose for some reason. More in a bit.
