A NYTimes
article on the forthcoming
Council on Foreign Relations report on terrorism is illuminating.
"It is not said openly, but many in the U.S. government believe that Saudi Arabia is currently engaged in a civil war and that U.S. policy should be to ensure that the House of Saud wins that civil war," said William F. Wechsler, co-author of the council report. "The goal of U.S. policy should not only be that the Saudi regime wins that war, but that it fundamentally transforms itself in the process."
The council is supposedly non-partisan, but both sides are trying to influence the report. It isn't out yet, but the council has pages of previous reports and expert commentary on
terrorism and
Iraq, among other subjects.