So the West may really have brought 9/11 on itself, by discovering and developing oil reserves in a country ruled by the Saudis, who are from the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, where the inhabitants were largely bedouins, desert warriors, who conquered most of the peninsula and drove the ruling family out, into Jordan where they now rule. The Saudis were and are adherents of the Jalafi or Wahabi sect of Islam and they have used their oil wealth to spread their fundamentalism throughout the Muslim world. If we continue this appeasement of them, we will never be rid of people like bin Laden. Maybe we should have allowed Saddam to overthrow them in 1990, and THEN defeated him. Without the Saudis calling the shots in the coalition, we might have have gone on to eliminate all of Iraq's ability to make war, including his WMDs, but I doubt it. Bush I's advisors thought that Saddam couldn't survive after losing the war so decisively. They were hideously wrong, and one of them is now Secretary of State.