The birthplace of Islam and the location of two of Islam's holiest sites needs to seriously reevaluate its policies on religious freedom and send a strong message that Islam is indeed a religion of peace, moderation and tolerance.
9/11 was a great embarrassment for the Saudi leaders, but terrorist attacks inside Saudi Arabia in 2003 underlined the need for the kingdom to reinvent itself from an incubator for terrorists to promoting a more pluralistic view of Islam
A handful of rapidly aging princes control the global center of both oil production and the Islamic faith; its politics could endanger worldwide stability.