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invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein. Losing Mr. Mubarak
means that the Saudis now see themselves as the last Sunni giant left
in the region.
The Saudis were further agitated when the protests crept closer to
their own borders. In Yemen, on their southern flank, young
protesters were suddenly rallying thousands, and then tens of
thousands, of their fellow citizens to demand the ouster of the regime,
led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his family for 43 years.
Meanwhile, across a narrow expanse of water on Saudi Arabia's
northeast border, protesters in Bahrain rallied in the hundreds of
thousands around a central roundabout in Manama. Most Bahraini
demonstrators were Shiites with a long list of grievances over
widespread economic and political discrimination. But some Sunnis
also participated, demanding more say in a government dominated by
the Al-Khalifa family since the 18th century.
Protesters deny that their goals had anything to do with gaining
sectarian advantage. Independent observers, including the U.S.
government, saw no sign that the protests were anything but
homegrown movements arising from local problems. During a visit to
Bahrain, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urged the government to
adopt genuine political and social reform.
But to the Saudis, the rising disorder on their borders fit a pattern of
Iranian meddling. A year earlier, they were convinced that Iran was
stoking a rebellion in Yemen's north among a Shiite-dominated rebel
group known as the Houthis. Few outside observers saw extensive
ties between Iran and the Houthis. But the Saudis nonetheless viewed
the nationwide Yemeni protests in that context. In Bahrain, where
many Shiites openly nurture cultural and religious ties to Iran, the
Saudis saw the case as even more open-and-shut. To their ears, these
suspicions were confirmed when many Bahraini protesters moved
beyond demands for greater political and economic participation and

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