This month's The Atlantic magazine has an interview with Stephen Schwartz, author of The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror. Schwartz himself admits in the interview that he is a leftist, and some aspects of his responses to questions (especially the discussion of "big oil") reflect that. But it is overall a good discussion of how the potential for democracy in the Middle East is strangled by Wahhabism, and that Islam is not, on its face, anti-democratic.

I also found fascinating his insistence that the road to democracy in the Middle East must go through Saudi Arabia, including forcing the Saudis to come clean completely about the role of the country and its citizens - by name - in the 9/11 attack. And while I have come to almost reflexively bristle at the "it's about oil!" meme, I think we have to consider that some business relationships are going to be disrupted as a part of the need to clean out the rottenness of Wahhabism from the power structures in the Middle East. That's one of the costs of protecting this country, and I do think that some businesses would be willing to let the country ride the edge of risk for the benefit of continued business success.

I don't think driving an SUV contributes to terrorism. But I do think our ties with Saudi Arabia are too tight, and we have to be willing to make whatever sacrifices we need to on the home front to insure that our military doesn't have to go into another country in the Middle East. I want them home, and I want terrorism to stop. And the road goes through Saudi Arabia.