Sooooo, are we going to liberate them any time soon? Get the B52s ready 
I don;t disagree with you at all on your statements. I just would like to add that democracies are for the most part are just a theory (at list current day democracies). Yeah, we get to vote for some guy we for the most part don't know very well until he gets on TV before elections, but once we vote them in, do we really have any say on what happens or what they do? I don;t remember having a say on if my taxes would go up or down, don't remember having a choice on going to war, who our country should be selling weapons too, health care reform, new laws etc. Sure, my representatives are there voting for me but come to think of it, I don;t remember them asking what my opinion was. So, to me, a democracy is very similar to a dictatorship with the exception that every 4 years we get to pick one of two people to be the next one. It keeps people quiet because as far as they know, they have a choice and somehow are in control, but really . . . ?
Thankfully, we don't have pure democracy, not on this side of the pond and surely even less so on yours. I think Churchill said something to the effect of "five minutes speaking with the average person is the best argument against democracy" (paraphrased poorly, I'm sure). Look at the percentage of the US population that voted in the last presidential election vs the percentage that voted in that last season of American Idol and you'll see why. The average person is a knuckle dragging moron whose motivations likely don't extend very far at all beyond "what's in it for me, right now" when it comes to politics. The percentage that really do care about what goes on in DC are a minority, and are evenly devided for the most part, although they mostly populate the fringe ideological edges of their party affiliations. The smallest, rarest group is the elusive "independant" that is concerned but doesn't toe a party line. This small group likely will determine the election. A portion of this small group that gives a rats arse do so because they are either a large part of the 25% - 30% of the population that pays over 70% of the taxes (they have a real vested interest) or they are of the other group that has figured out that the best way to a free hand-out is through DC (why beg locally when you can go straight to the source?). The rest of the population of this great land, at least when it comes to politics, are ignorant at best, morons at worst. There is a reason we don't vote on every single issue, but instead leave it up to people we feel (at least based on what lines of BS they spewed to get elected) capable of making decisions on our behalf. We are technically a representative republic.... so that we as a population are protected from ourselves. You wanna get yourself elected to the Presidency? Ignite the morons. Give them emotional reasons. Stir up their feelings towards religion, race, "choice," "fairness," or whatever you have to do. Don't give them hope for anything you are going to do, just make the mad enough about what you think the last guy did wrong. You don't have to actually tell them anything truthful or factual about anything you either believe in, have supported in the past, or intend to pursue as part of an agenda. Just make them mad at the other party for what their guy did. It's worked in EVERY SINGLE ELECTION since the beginning of the history of this land. The average person will gobble it up without question, logical basis, or hostorical factual support. Convince the masses you're gonna give them bread, you have their votes. Stalin referred to these people as "useful idiots" and my man we have our share as well.
And as far as Saudi Arabia goes, no, we don't need to break out the B52's or send in the Rangers. Unless they a)murder a few hundred thousand (or more) of their own people, b) harbour, train and support the people who agressively and actively carry out terrorist attacks on our home soils, c) invade a neighboring country in an effort to monopolize and control a commodity to the point that they have the power to destabilize the entire world financial market, or d) attempt to build nuclear weapons with the express, stated intent of "wiping another country off the map" with them because of some ignorant bigotted hatred for their religion or their rightful claim to their homeland.
If they did that, well, yeh. I say make a parking lot out of 'em.
