Abdul Wahab's struggle against Ottoman Turks was purely political and had nothing to do with Islam. It is a well-documented fact that Arabs felt oppressed by the way Ottoman Turks had ruled them. Unlike mainland Turkey, the Arabic lands were left undeveloped and ignored, just like Pakistan's tribal areas were left undeveloped by the Brits, as a policy. As a result, poverty prevailed throughout Arabic lands, which assisted Brits to setup a revolt of Arabs against Ottoman Turks. However, in order to gain support of the masses, Brits and Abdul Wahab did play the card of religion. At any rate, the whole saga had more of ethnic, tribal, social, and political reasons than religious.
Once I had a chat with a Kuwaiti on Kuwait-Iraq conflict. I asked him, why KSA invited the so-called infidels 'kuffar' to help them against Iraqis, who were Muslims. He replied to me that it was totally Islamic to seek support of a non-Muslim against your enemy. He gave me examples from Prophet's (PBUH) time when Jews and Mulsims were in alliance against Quresh Mekkah. Now we can argue that Quresh Mekkah were non-muslims and how the two (Quresh and Iraqis) could be compared, but than it is politics.
The biggest damage that was caused by the Wahabi movement in Hijaz was that Muslims lost their religious, and cultural heritage, and it continues to this day. Throughout the world, you will see that nations go to every length to preserve their cultural heritage, and we lost everything. You do find remains of Aad and Samood, but nothing from the time of Muhammed (PBUH), or his sohaba.
