Rich in oil, and religious hatred - the usual Middle Eastern story.

Saudi Arabia is one of the richer Middle Eastern countries. This results in just as much ignorance and religious hatred, but more money. This, as the US discovered on September-11, is a lethal combination.

Keeping busted-arsed countries harmless by getting them on the welfare tit has worked well for the US, but in this case the US is on the oil-tit. This makes the Saudis much harder to control.