Surely they jest?! If this is some kind of warped 9/11 joke, then it’s in poor taste, to say the least.

Turns out the U.S. is negotiating with Saudi Arabia an “Open Skies” agreement, as if the 10th anniversary of 9/11 wasn't reminder enough for anyone to refrain from using the words “Saudi” and “open skies” in the same sentence (15 of the 19 hijackers, not to mention the barbarian behind it all, Osama bin Laden, R.I.H., were Saudis).

While in other royal news, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal warns us today on the pages of the New York Times (i.e., all the garbage that’s fit to print), that if the U.S. vetoes the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN this month, the Saudis will no longer be our BFFs.

You see, according to Turki, losing him and Saudi Arabia as best friends would mean (among other things) a missed opportunity for the U.S. “and Saudi Arabia to contain Iran and prevent it from destabilizing the region.”

Got that? Turki of Arabia and his fellow Wahhabis, who are p-e-t-r-i-f-i-e-d of Iran (just last year the U.S. approved $60 billion in arms sales to the Saudis, supposedly to protect them from Iran) are threatening to not help us prevent Iran from destabilizing the region. Can you say CHUTZPAH in Mecca-speak?!

As the Palestinians, the Saudis, indeed the whole world uses this time, or rather this presidency, to let loose with their threats and extortions, let’s hope the U.S. government finds its cojones and tells the bottom-feeders what to do, er, where to put those threats and extortions.

[Posted by R.S.]