Saudi Arabian Oil Facilities: The Achilles Heel of the Western Economy
http://www.jamestown.org/docs/Jamestown-SaudiOil.pdfSince al‐Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden began speaking publicly in 1993, he has identified the control of energy reserves
in Muslim lands as one of the United Statesʹ most important foreign policy goals. In late 2004, for example, bin Laden
described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as an effort to dominate Iraqʹs energy resources. ʺAnd Bushʹs hands are stained with
the blood of all those killed on both sides ,ʺ bin Laden said, ʺall for the sake of oil, and keeping their
private companies in business.ʺ In addition, al‐Qaedaʹs strategy against the U.S.—based on the words of bin Laden and al‐Qaeda
second‐in‐command Ayman al‐Zawahiri and discussions in al‐Qaedaʹs electronic journals—has become ever more firmly grounded in
what bin Laden describes as the ʺBleed America to Bankruptcy War.ʺ The steady and affordable supply of oil, being crucial to
the well‐being of the economies of the United States and its allies, has naturally become a focus for al‐Qaeda, as well as a
valued target in its overall plan to force the United States out of the Middle East by damaging its economy severly. He may be a lot of things, but he is not stupid.