Mowbray says this doesn't necessarily mean State Department officials "make decisions with visions of dollars dancing in their heads, but at the very least, they probably take a more benign view of the royal family that 'takes care of' their friends and former colleagues."
But even their friends at the State Department have been unnerved by reports that some Saudi royals have funneled money to terrorist organizations over the years. For example, they donated large sums during a very public Saudi telethon last year, which raised money for the families of suicide bombers who attacked Israel.
The most embarrassing link between the Saudi royal family and terrorism, however, came last November when the FBI discovered that Prince Bandar's wife had donated $130,000 to a man who helped finance some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
But the Saudis' real wake-up call came when nine suicide bombers hit targets within Saudi Arabia itself in May, killing 25 people including eight Americans. The Riyadh bombings, well coordinated and executed by terrorists linked to al Qaeda, were a huge shock to Saudi Arabia's rulers. After years of trying to focus Saudi radicals' hatred outward toward "infidels" abroad, the Saudi royal family now finds itself at the top of the enemies list of those same fanatics and terrorists.
It isn't likely that municipal elections will bring anything like true democracy to Saudi Arabia. But these elections could mark one tiny step forward in a region whose politics have been characterized by despotism, corruption and totalitarian-like control of the lives of ordinary people.