“Maybe the King of SA should spend his own treasure and the blood of his subjects first....”
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey have financed and armed the jihadists. The king is playing politics. His stake in this is a pipeline across Syria to the Mediterranean. He is playing the US and Europe while still financing the jihad. He wants Americans to clear out Assad (and, indeed, Obama tried to do that and got shut down.)
As for Saudi Arabia fighting, they’re Sunnis and ISIS are Sunnis. The kingdom is only stable because nobody has rocked the boat. Actually fighting a Sunni led effort he financed would probably cause a wave that would swamp the kingdom. In addition, although the kingdom’s forces are formidable on paper, I strongly suspect they’re a hollow force with no strong desire to protect the country or the royals.
Frankly, I’m surprised he has said anything publically.
Eggzackly. ISIS, with 5000 or so fighters, mostly in Toyota trucks, apparently routed a couple of Iraqi divisions armed with American tanks, etc. in very short order.
Equipment and training is utterly worthless if men don't have an inner motivation to stand and fight.
In fact, giving such men equipment is counter-productive, since they promptly run away and leave it to be captured by the enemy.
All this said, I don't worry much about ISIS. Reason? Gas prices are going down. Those in the know don't seem to expect ISIS to cause much more disruption in the area.