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Jacoby must be a moron. The last thing we want to do right now is destabilize Saudi Arabia. The Royal family would argue that shutting down the clerics would cause a revolt, especially if it were at America's behest. They would be correct.

They won't do it. It would be signing their own death warrant. I suppose Jacoby would have us seize the oil fields at that point. We'd also have to seize the hundreds of miles of pipelines and the ports. It's not nearly as easy as he seems to think.

Of course, every country in the world would condemn us and our facilities around the world would become targets for enraged protestors, not all of whom would be moslems.

Could we do it? Probably. It would turn allies into enemies and forever ruin our credibility in the world. Oh, and it wouldn't change the situation in Saudi Arabia. Everyone there would hate our guts and want to kill us.

And we'd still be paying the same price for oil.

Nothing at all would be accomplished, and much damage to America would be done.

Utter lunacy.

would ruin our credibility in the world

Now what would you say if the same scenario is played out AFTER Saudi is destabilized by terrorists, as OBL inteneded?

I think keeping the seizure option open could be the best thing both for our credibility and for the stability of the Middle East.

Same results, different starting point.

I suppose Jacoby would have us seize the oil fields at that point. We'd also have to seize the hundreds of miles of pipelines and the ports. It's not nearly as easy as he seems to think.

I think it would be a hell of a lot easier than many suspect. Who do you think run the wells and extract the oil now? Imported contract workers--most of the roughnecks are Filipinos--supervised by American engineers employed by ARAMCO. The Saudis themselves only claim the land and count the money. Seizing the oilfields wouldn't be that difficult. The Filipino workers, by the way, would probably regard a US takeover as a positive thing, since the Saudis treat them like animals.