There is a world of difference between some Saudi government employees or some errant Princes (out of thousands) being involved with al-Qaeda and the Saudi Government itself being involved or responsible. This is almost certainly the reason why it has remain classified: because people will leap to the wrong conclusions, conclusions which would be incredibly damaging for our mutual relations.
First off, no leaping is taking place, not when we've had almost a decade and a half to think about it.
Remember, this is not earthshattering news. LOTS of people have had much more than a hunch about it. This is just confirmation after scads of circumstantial evidence.
Second, conclusions can be much more than just right or wrong. It doesn't necessarily lead to a decision to go to war.
It DOES however lend COLOR to our future with this bunch. Sorry, Saudi Arabia does not have a government that resembles ANYTHING Western.
YES, YES, there are "errant princes" but the material in this report points to a lot more than errant princes.
According to the sources, this was widespread, and some of it, a lot of it, went to some of the TOP levels.
But again, this IS an absolute monarchy, there is nothing similar to a bureaucracy the way Westerners think of bureaucracy to compare this to.
This isn't about "being involved with" Al-Qaeda, this is about support, material, financial, ideological, and yes even executive support.
Our so called "mutual relations" WERE in fact DAMAGED an awfully long time ago. I don't have to spell it out, do I?
The whole reason why our credibility in the entire region is sh!t is BECAUSE of our damaged mutual relations and the perception OF those damaged relations in the region by nearly everyone.
Don't fool yourself into believing that we are anything but paid mercenaries and shaved apes in the eyes of the Saudi Royal Family.
We've never been perceived as anything more....EVER.
If you believe otherwise, you bought the huckster narrative that oil companies want you to believe.
What else is there? Did you think we had an interest in "The eyes of lambs, cooked in honey" for export or something?
Our relationship with the Kingdom resembles that of a crack addict and the crack dealer, and the crack dealer has been bitch-slapping our girlfriend for quite some time now. I'm a LIBERAL and even I know this elemental truth.
The smartest thing we could do is to continue weaning ourselves off their black gold AND their influence in the region and balance it a little better with the Shi'ites so that it's more 50-50, and to promote some actual incentive for the fat pink bottomed Saudi royals to take better care of their own problems. We can gain more trade in a wider area, and we can continue to promote more energy independence through efficiency and advanced technology, like electric cars and solar energy.
The Saudi kingdom are just as much pariahs as the Iranians. The Iranians however, never launched an attack on our shores.