The House of Saud is on the brink...a terror attack reaches the palace...what is the contingency plan if they fall?

via Press TV

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia has cautioned the American citizens in the kingdom, following a foiled attack in the port city of Jeddah.

On Saturday, several unconfirmed reports said that Saudi security forces had thwarted an attack outside King Salman’s Al Salam Palace, which left the assailant and two royal guards dead.

The Saudi Interior Ministry confirmed the attack hours later, saying two guards were killed in the assault on the Saudi royal palace in Jeddah. It added that the slain attacker was a 28-year-old Saudi national.

"Due to the possibility of ongoing police activity, American citizens are advised to exercise caution when travelling through the area," the US embassy said.

The Al Salam Palace is one of the key royal palaces in the kingdom where the Saudi Council of Ministers convenes its meetings.

Terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh have conducted several attacks in Saudi Arabia, mainly in the country’s Shia-dominated Eastern province.

In June, Saudi authorities said they foiled a Daesh attack on the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

Hundreds of Saudi citizens have travelled to Syria to Join Daesh.

CentCom better be paying attention and dusting off war plans.

What is the plan if the House of Saud falls?  There will be a rush to the oilfields.  I can imagine both Iran and Iraq will make a dash to them.  We might see members of the GCC rush there too.

The real prize will be who controls Mecca.

One thing is for sure.  We can't fly an American flag over the place or it will be generational war till 2100 at the minimum.

So how would we do it?  Would we even try? 

This is the problem with the current "forward deployment" and exercise craze. There is no slack for REAL DEAL emergencies that are bound to rear their ugly head.  If a major hurricane can throw off deployment schedules then how can we react in a timely manner to an unexpected emergency that requires at least two divisions to cover?

From my seat we can't.

There is only one answer.  We MUST put the combatant commanders back in a cage, cut off all the idiotic exercises and get some rationality attached to deployments around the globe.  The US military is just too small to be everywhere.  Every request for forces that come from a combatant commander should be approved by the SecDef first.  No more kingdoms that are a power unto themselves.  No more pampered princes.

Then we need to reactivate the Rapid Deployment Force. Every service should have a division ready Battalion that can deploy at a moments notice.  Of course this duty should rotate.  A certain number of units must be maintained at a high state of readiness.

Preperations for the failure of the royal family and other emergencies should be on the front burner for military planners.