Successfully petitioning the House of Saud would require a much larger bomb. The regime is not known for listening to its citizens' requests, to say the least. The Sauds incidentally have been supported by the US government, by supply of personnel, intelligence and hardware, since FDR's agreement with them in the 1940s.
I'm still failing to see a clear difference. You call the bombers of the Cole "religious zealots", but do not use the same loaded terminology ("ideological zealots") for your nation's founding fathers?
