“The generals sitting around the Saudi Defense Ministry’s situation room table thought they had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen. They’d been running the Saudi armed forces for decades and believed their new defense minister would be pretty much like the last one. When facing adversity, Saudi Arabia followed the lead of the United States of America, its longtime protector. There would be grave deliberations and a decision to have more grave deliberations the following day and the following week until Washington, DC, decided what to do. But when Mohammed bin Salman, twenty-nine years old and with less than eight weeks of experience running the Saudi military, sat down at the head of the V-shaped table and issued an unprecedented order, “Send in the F15s,” they were shocked into silence. Saudi Arabia was not just going to war. It was leading the way.”
Excerpt From: Bradley Hope. “Blood and Oil.”