The great irony of supporting and blaming the House of Saud is that the US only gest about 7% of our petrochems from them. We are somewhere (depending on who's numbers you see) 40-48% self sufficent, and we get a LOT from Canada.

By compairison, we also get about 7% of our supply from Mexico, which is the same amount we used to get out of Venezula until a couple years ago. We get more out of Nigeria than we do out of Saudi.

Oh, and in case no one has checked, the Saudi's aren't all that cuddly. If you are an animist (like me) or Jewish, it used to be you couldn't even get off the plane without being arrested, even before you hit customs. That might have changed, but I doubt it. They look the other way for our troops, but not very well. Hell, they still have the guys with the sticks that wack you in public if you break even the smallest and obscure Koranic tenant, as they see it. Even if the official word is they don't, I've spoke with people who've returned from deployments there in the past year, and say those "religion police" are still on the beat.

What they Saudi's have going for them is that they are pro-Western theofacists, at least at the leadership level. It's the whole shi'a-sunni thing with the added variable of a lot of money and thier national defense is pretty much taken care of. They have a "military", and again, based on what I've been told by people who've been there in the past year and war gamed against them, a US National Gaurd brigade with a carrier group and airborne battalion or MEU to grab an airport could roll them up. That's why the Saudi royal family stays pro-Western- if we pull out, they either run away to Switzerland and Monaco, or thier heads are on pikes outside the ruins of the big palace is Riyhad. Instead, we GIVE them heavy weapons, and hire contractors to maintain that gear becuase the Saudi's only want to do the fun parts of having a military, like the hitting range and racing tanks.

Give me the Kuwaiti's any day. They might be a little greedy, but they are much better friends than the Saudis. Why do you think we buy more oil from them?