In 1978, the FBI launched Abscam, a sting in which "fake sheikhs" attempted to bribe public officials.
It is true that the FBI set up "fake sheikhs" – agents posing as wealthy Arabs – to con public officials.
In the 1990s the Sahwa, a group of sheikhs, accused the royals of being liberal apostates.
IS's anti-Shia sectarianism, and its literal reading of ancient Islamic practices such as beheading and slavery, draw much from Wahhabism.As a result, Saudi Arabia's rulers can expect the outside world to pay close attention to the religious teachings of its sheikhs.
Even sheikhs get stuck in their limousines.
If senior tribal sheikhs and local strongmen along with their stocks of Stinger missiles and anti-tank guns lose faith in him, his days are numbered.On the other hand, Mr Saleh has weathered catastrophic economic and political shocks before.
If they can do so reliably, and on a large scale, biofuels may have a lot more success in freeing the world from fossil fuels than they have had until now.The original 1970s appeal of biofuels was the opportunity to stick up a finger or two, depending on the local bodily idiom, to the oil sheikhs.
Yet the opposition, which consists not only of veteran political parties and tribal sheikhs, but also younger leaders of the recent urban protests, seems loth to compromise.
Scriptural arguments for sectarianism are no longer the preserve of crusty sheikhs from Qasim, the Wahhabist heartland of Saudi Arabia.
On June 16th Mr Zarqawi's Salafist mentor, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, was released from prison, but not before he had been persuaded to issue two fatwas declaring followers of ISIS as "deviants" and telling them not to make attacks in Jordan.Leading sheikhs, too, deride ISIS.
Both sides, says an American official, "peered over the edge and decided that's really where they don't want to go".So far, however, there is little evidence that even the more prominent Sunni sheikhs have a decisive influence over the insurgents.
