FTR, while I don't like this legislation, I actually think the US divesting as much as possible from Saudi Arabia is a good (indeed, urgent) idea if only to get as far away as possible from the coming fall of the House of Saud and the calamity that will surely ensue (which was historically predictable because the Kingdom is essentially an agglomeration of various different family/kinship groups who were violently coerced into accepting the despotic rule of the House of Saud and its Wahhabi allies - both groups themselves being far from unified other than that they will ruthless put down any real or perceived threat to their rule). Basically, a century of inter-and-intrafamily intrigue, manipulation, and even outright violence is coming to a head now and the fundamental instability and precarious nature of Saudi Arabia is being revealed for all to see ("heightening the contradictions" amirite).
The really frightening thing, however, is that because the Saudi-Wahhabi establishment have had little desire to cultivate any kind of civil society other than hopelessly dogmatic, backward, and pro-regime Wahhabist religious institutions, when the chickens come home to roost - as they are starting to now - the only alternatives to their rule will be, in all likelihood, a bunch of warring Al-Qaeda-style factions that will each be making claims to an Islamic State. Exit the House of Saud, enter the Islamic State (s) of the Arabian Peninsula. Not good!
I do find it curious, though, that the Iranian regime - which openly supports terrorism against the US and its allies as a matter of official policy - is somehow seen as the Lesser of Two Evils these days, because they fight ISIS or whatever. Granted, there's almost certainly less pro-terrorism-against-the-West sentiment among the Iranian population than among the Saudis....
Great post. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia has always been extremely problematic, and even more so after 9/11. I don't like the possibility of being friendly with Iran either for the reasons you stated.
The problem with this bill is that Saudi Arabia will inevitably retaliate. OPEC already announced they are cutting oil production, which lead to a 5% rise in the price of oil today, and that hurts the pockets of average Americans. Obama knew this.
A major component in the process of loosening Saudi Arabian relations is energy independence, but I obviously don't think an expanded reliance on fracking is the way to go.
