Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan drop a bombshell article alleging the Saudis were complicit:
[Several months before 9/11,] in two long conversations with Jean-Charles Brisard, author of a study on terrorist financing for a French intelligence agency, O’Neill was still venting his frustration. “All the answers, all the clues that could enable us to dismantle Osama bin Laden’s organization,” he said, “are in Saudi Arabia.” The answers and the clues, however, remained out of reach, in part, O’Neill told Brisard, because U.S. dependence on Saudi oil meant that Saudi Arabia had “much more leverage on us than we have on the kingdom.” And, he added, because “high-ranking personalities and families in the Saudi kingdom” had close ties to bin Laden.
Blake Hounshell is skeptical of the sourcing. Mai Yamani looks at the contemporary U.S.-Saudi relationship in light of the coming Iraq withdrawal, while the Economist sees more authoritarianism in Saudi Arabia's future.
The Dish 