But it was the terrorist attacks on the US in September 2001 that brought a sea change in the thinking, if not yet the practice, of at least part of the Saudi regime. The fact that most of the perpetrators of the attacks were identified as Saudis highlighted the country’s backward realities and provoked mounting international pressures for change.
但是美国9 · 11恐怖袭击让人们对沙特政权的认识至少在思想上发生了巨大变化，即使在行动上还不明显。大多数恐怖袭击者被确认为沙特人，这一事实凸现了沙特日况愈下的现状，引发了呼吁变革的国际舆论。