” ‘To a certain extent,’ said Philip K. Verleger, an independent economist and a senior adviser in the Carter administration, ‘we let U.S. foreign policy be dictated to us by the house of Saud.’ It is unclear what the United States can do to loosen its ties to the Saudi regime, so long as it remains reliant on its oil.”
– Neela Banerjee, “The High, Hidden Cost of Saudi Arabian Oil,” The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2001