Yahoo! News - Saudi Rulers Explore Political Reforms

DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia - In the past few months, Saudi Arabia has taken unprecedented steps to encourage debate and explore reforms, signs that the royal family senses change is the best way to protect its rule from the turmoil an Iraqi war may cause.


The government has allowed a U.N. human rights team and a New York-based Human Rights Watch delegation to visit — the first such visits to the kingdom. Crown Prince Abdullah has come up with a proposal for an upcoming Arab summit that calls for greater political participation by the masses and met recently with 40 Saudi reformers who presented him their vision for change. The kingdom's prisons system also is to undergo a major overhaul.


A few years ago, such actions could have been dismissed as an attempt by an absolute monarchy to placate its people with promises of change that would never see light.


But the ruling Al Saud family's worries over the fallout from a U.S.-led war on neighboring Iraq may mean that this time they're serious about reform.[...]