I was puzzled by it, too.  But we've given the Saudis the upper hand with every post-9/11 misstep.  After the attacks, we should've rallied around the cause of getting off the oil, and we should've said to the Saudis, "You did this, you little bastards.  We're ditching the oil now, but, in the meantime, you'd better keep it flowing, or there isn't going to be much of a Saudi Arabia left when we're through."

That's one period on which I would've most certainly used the stick approach rather than the carrot.  But I guess that's easy to say for me, as someone who isn't buddy-buddy with these scumbags.

And now we've pissed away the opportunity.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin