Survey of Terrorism ••• 427American Oil Company between 1972 and 1980. At present, 40 percent of
Saudi crude oil exports go China, South Korea, and Japan, but the US in
early 2004 imported more crude from Saudi Arabia than any other coun¬
try. Saudi Arabia has played an important role in stabilizing crude oil prices
by raising or lowering its production according to market conditions. Al¬
though Saudi Arabia holds an estimated 25 percent of the world's proven
reserves, it has almost always cooperated with the United States and other
Western consumers in holding the price of oil to a reasonable level. Other
factors contributing to the recent rise in oil prices are increased demand
from large consumers, such as China, and the continued disruption in
Iraq's oil exports due to the American invasion of that country.
The Saudi government remains an absolute monarchy, headed nomi¬
nally by King Fahd but in reality by his brother, Crown Prince Abdallah,
since 1997. In October 2003 the government announced plans to open half
the seats in the Consultative Assembly to election, and it is likely to permit
greater popular participation in local and provincial government as well, a
wise response to the growing number of Saudi subjects who have com¬
pleted higher education or technical training. Although suffrage will prob¬
ably be limited to males, a growing Saudi feminist movement is demanding
voting rights for women as well.
The Saudi government bases much of its legitimacy on its strict adher¬
ence to the rules and laws of Islam, as interpreted by the Hanbali rite, and
the Wahhabi movement remains influential among many Saudis, especially
the ulama and graduates of Islamic madrasas. Riyadh has long exercised in¬
fluence over other Arab countries due to its guardianship over Mecca and
Medina and because so many Arabs from outside Saudi Arabia have sought
work in the kingdom's oil industry. Saudi Arabia does face challenges from
neighboring oil-exporting states that have less restrictive laws against alco¬
hol consumption, nightclubs, and sexually explicit publications and films.
It has also been challenged directly by Islamic militants who have ac¬
cused the kingdom's leaders of moral laxity and excessive deference to the
Americans, leading to attacks on US military personnel in the Khobar Tow¬
ers in 1996, terrorist incidents in Riyadh in 2003 and 2004, and an assault
on the US consulate in Jidda in December 2004. In response, the Saudi gov¬
ernment has stepped up its own security forces. It has also instituted politi¬
cal and educational reforms and hired more Saudi nationals to replace
foreign workers (who still constitute more than a quarter of the kingdom's
population). But critics claim that it continues to harbor militant groups
attached to al-Qa'ida, and it is well known that Osama bin Laden is a Saudi
national, as were fifteen hijackers of the planes that attacked the US on 11
September 2001.