For several years after the September 11 attacks on the US, Saudi Arabia was clouded by predictions of doom and gloom.
The world found fault with everything Saudi: the intolerance of its puritan brand of Islam, the behaviour of its absolute monarchy, the religious bias in its education system and the over-dependence on oil in its economy. Bets were taken on how long the House of Saud, sitting on one fifth of the world’s proved oil reserves, would survive as the US, the kingdom’s most trusted friend and protector, became its number one critic.
