Pedestrians run from the scene as one of the World Trade Center Towers collapses 11 September, 2001 in New York following a terrorist plane crash on the twin towers. The all-out war on terrorism unleashed by Washington after the attacks marked a turning point in US-Arab relations and nowhere more so than in once top ally Saudi Arabia. With 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers carrying Saudi nationality and mastermind Osama bin Laden being the scion of a leading Saudi family, the desert kingdom and world oil kingpin, suddenly found itself on the frontline of the war on terror prosecuted by US President George W. Bush. AFP PHOTO Doug KANTER