“But there is clearly also something strategically more significant going on. While many of the officials arrested over the weekend threaten Mohammeds power, they arent the only ones that he has purged. In September Mohammed arrested some 30 senior Wahhabist clerics and intellectuals. And Saturdays arrest of the princes, cabinet ministers and business leaders was followed up by further arrests of senior Wahhabist clerics.
At the same time, Mohammed has been promoting clerics who espouse tolerance for other religions, including Judaism and Christianity. He has removed the Saudi religious polices power to conduct arrests and he has taken seemingly credible steps to finally lift the kingdom-wide prohibition on women driving. “
“The files, which the Obama administration refused to release, make clear that Obamas two chief pretensions that al-Qaida was a spent force by the time US forces killed bin Laden, and that Iran was interested in moderating its behavior were both untrue. The documents showed that al-Qaidas operations remained a significant worldwide threat to US interests.
And perhaps more significantly, they showed that Iran was al-Qaidas chief state sponsor. Much of al-Qaidas leadership, including bin Ladens sons, operated from Iran. The notion touted by Obama and his administration that Shiite Iranians and Sunni terrorists from al-Qaida and other groups were incapable of cooperating was demonstrated to be an utter fiction by the documents. “