With friends like the Saudis, ...
Seriously, I think that this is the most difficult issue that the U.S. faces. Our "friends" in the Arab world tend to be narrow, autocratic regimes that are either in cahoots with or intimidated by radical elements within their populations.
Before September 11, we would never have considered confronting these regimes over their anti-Americanism and authoritarian nature. Now, I see more and more willingness to make those issues. We're starting to think of winning these countries over to democracy, which is how we won the Cold War.
the royal saudi family has most certainly had death threats from OBL followers.....
Is there something about Islam that fosters dictatorial govennments? Most predominantly muslim nations have dictorial or corrupt governments. The only two that I can think are Indonesia and Malaysia and even these two leave a lot to be desired. Is this somewhat the mirror image of so many Jewish people embracing highly socialistic beliefs? I raise this question not to be xenophobic but see how someone more religious than myself would respond.