One of the unintended consequences of the Iraq invasion was that the Shia (pro Iranians) used the democratic elections and won most of the power. The Saudi's (who pushed for the invasion) were horrified as this led to a re-balancing of power in the ME with the Iranians + Iraq and Syria becoming at least as powerful if not more powerful that the Arab States.
The Saudis have had the West by the balls for decades because of our dependence on oil, think about it why does our media always talk of threats to the US when talking about Libya, or Syria or Iran? They can't invade us, they have no nu