I have two trains of thought on that.
One is close to yours.
The other takes into account that we came up with an Arab coalition during that first war. That was a coalition that amazed not only me, but most folks. Part of the agreement that saw that shape up, could have been an agreement that we would not remove an Arab leader from power in Iraq.
We may have screwed up. We may also have gained some trust in a region where they viewed us as pro-Irael and anti-Arab at every turn.
If we kept our word, it may have been a plus.
It seems somewhat strange to me that we seem to know all the financial payments to terrorists that the Saudi Family makes, but we can’t find a paper trail on any other backers of terrorism.
Why is that? Is someone spoon feeding us information that could serve to destroy a relationship that has been beneficial to the United States over the years?
No doubt the Saudis were scared S-less of Saddam. He threatened their dreams of establishing a Wahhabist Islamic Caliphate.