there's no doubt plenty of truth to this, but it plays into the same narrative that exists in syria and will - if the saudis have their way - be used as justification for a second round of regime change in iraq.

i mean, this is the first i've heard of these peaceful protestors. it's plausible that i just never heard of them. yet, the story a few months ago was saudi backed militants storming the region. these things hardly contradict themselves (given that the saudi militants' main aim is to stamp out local democratic uprisings by co-opting them into religious ones), but it all just seems very convenient.