With Friends Like These

Driving through a posh Jidda neighborhood the other day, a Saudi businessman saw something that took his breath away. On a wall facing the street, someone had spray-painted, "Long live bin Laden! Death to America!"

Though Jidda is the hometown of Osama bin Laden, graffiti in his honor is unusual in Saudi Arabia, whose 17 million subjects have experienced economic prosperity and close U.S. relations since the kingdom was founded in 1932. The slogan might seem to be a disquieting echo of the 1979 revolution that swept Ayatullah Khomeini to power in neighboring Iran. But the way feelings...