You might check out the Saudi papers for their commentary.

The plot certainly succeeded in that regard.

Yeah, we sure stuck it to the Saudis, didn't we? Why, just recently, our President has almost but not quite had the balls to say something about the woman getting her jail sentence doubled for getting gang-raped.

I know that doesn't fit the narrative, but it does fit the facts.

Of that number, 305 are Saudi, 137 are Libyan, 68 Yemeni nationals, the third-biggest source. There were 64 fighters from Algeria, 50 from Morocco, 38 from Tunisia, 14 from Jordan, six from Turkey and two each from Egypt and France. That adds up to 682 foreign fighters. Subtract that from the 25K figure for militants in detention, and it certainly looks like the vast majority are indigenes.

More at Saudis in Iraq: Numbers Decreasing

Make-work projects won't work because young Saudis feel there are enormous job sectors beneath them. Dig a ditch? Forget it. They expect to be 'managers' getting paid for doing little or no work.

They already received an education that suits them for little. I suppose forcing all young men back into school for another 3-5 years to 'un-teach' them might do something. I'm not sure what, though. Public statements by senior clerics, by senior gov't officials are all condemning both terrorism and foreign jihad. The bell needs a lot of unringing.

The economy is the economy. The new-found oil wealth is being spread around in infrastructure projects, but as noted above, the ones who will benefit most from the construction aren't going to be young Saudis. They'll be more immigrant labor.

The government gave its employees a 15% raise last year, the first in nearly 20 years. But the government is getting smaller as the country denationalizes most of its industries. The father's of today's young men were all but guaranteed gov't jobs. That's just not feasible today. Besides, haven't we been learning that it's not economic despair that creates jihadis?

Further crackdowns on the imams is always good. Even though thousands have been jailed, with most going through 're-education', some of them clearly aren't getting the message. Maybe withholding their $500/mo. government stipends would have a salutary effect.

Since the destruction of the 'Afghan Arab' armies in Afghanistan, I don't know which individual has his own standing army.

I'd just note that absent a total ban on Saudi males' leaving the country, there's not a whole lot the Saudi government can do to stop would-be jihadis from leaving the country.

That's true as far as it goes, John, but I think it needs to be taken a little farther.

If you build a warehouse, fill it full of dynamite, dig a moat around it, fill it full of gasoline, and then, when somebody points out that it's a safety hazard you might reasonably answer “Well, what are we supposed to do, ban sparks, flames, lightning and anything else that might conceivably set it off?”

The KSA has a large pool of young men, many of whom are unemployed, an economy that continues to be highly dependent (and centralized) on the oil sector, who have been taught intolerance of non-Muslims and non-Wahhabi Muslims in the schools and by imams some of whom receive government stipends for their work. The population growth, the economy, the schools, and the imams are all at least influenced by the Saudi government.