Hey Sard, you oughta' know by now that, unlike neocons, we liberals susbscribe to the, "a good idea doesn't care who has it," philosophy.

First and foremost, does anyone seriously think the term, "Middle East ally" is anything but an oxymoron? Since we don't have any middle east allies, maybe that's why we're having to carve out some satelite US realestate in the region. I'm reminded yet again that nations do not have friends; nations have interests.

Without checking any sources, the article seems well written and quite persuasive. Plus it's consistent with other stuff I've read about SA and heard from 3 different friends that lived and worked there at times since the 1970s.

To invoke some anti-Bush sentiment, I could speculate that one reason the US does nothing about this currently, is that Bush shares the same views on human rights as his buddies and family business partners in Saudi Arabia. (insert smartazzed smiley icon here) But for these family interests, wouldn't it make good neocon sense to nuke SA along with Iran and all the other lands occupied by Islamic peoples, given that there's so much sand in the world, and apparently not enough glass?