Saudi Arabia Admits Failure

Give credit to the Saudis. They have finally admitted a failure in the war on terror:

Have we failed? Yes. On Monday, we failed. We will learn from this mistake, we will ensure it never happens again.

I suppose we should be happy that they have taken the first step on the road to recovery. Admitting you have a problem is always the hardest, and most important, step you take. But is it enough to recognize just the mistake made on Monday?

Not to me.

What about in 1996 when the Khobar Towers were blown up? Sure they executed the "perpetrators" right away, but did they learn from the experience? No. Did they gain intelligence data from the bombers? No. Did they make a mistake in the way they handled the aftermath of Khobar? I think so.

They knew about the problems bin Laden presented long before 9/11. But did they try to stop him? Not really. They let him leave the country. They let him take large chunks of his fortune. And they never really helped anyone to understand the threat posed by OBL. Did they make a mistake in their approach to Binny? Definitely.

And what about 9/11. Did they make a mistake there? 15 of the 19 were Saudi citizens. Saudi Arabia loves its Whabbism and hate filled madrissas. Did they allow the creation of the culture of victimization and hatred that produced the 9/11 15? Absolutely. Was it a mistake? Most definitely.

And the list goes on and on and on. We have the luxury of looking back and seeing the mistakes in hindsight, but were they really all that hard to see at the time? We can still see the Saudis making the same mistakes now. This is part of a pattern that goes way back.

It is interesting to see the government running scared now. They know that they have lost the popular support of the people, so they are basing their house of cards on their relationship with the US:

But the Saudis are adamant that both they and the US "are in the crosshairs" of al-Qaida, and that all efforts will be made to uphold security in the country.

There is no reason to mention the US like that, unless they are trying to curry some sort of favor with us. The Saudis have already shown that their interests are not aligned with ours. But to publicly admit that in Saudi Arabia right now would bring the barbarians to the gate. So they talk of our common threat as if we are the only two nations in the world threatened by al-Qaida.

Perhaps I'm reading all this wrong and there really is change afoot in Riyadh. Maybe they have recognized the error of their ways. Very possibly they have realized that the threat of terror may be enough to topple their regime. Maybe, possibly, perchance.

Personally, I don't believe so. I see political expediency and regime preservation as being the primary basis for these statements of contrition. The Saudis are scared and are trying to hide behind our power.

Which means that the question for us is: do we want to save the Saudi monarchy?