You're Either With Us Or You're With the Terrorists Or You Sell Us Oil

It seems that playing footsie with al Qaeda is okay with Washington, as long as America thirsts for your oil.   Back during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, prominent and noble Saudis funneled truckloads of cash to the mujaheddin and especially their own boy, Osama bin Laden.

Then came the embassy bombings, the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and finally the 9/11 attacks - carried out by Saudi Islamists.   The obvious answer to that was to invade Iraq.  What?  But surely the House of Saud has learned its lesson and broken with al Qaeda, right?   Wrong.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tags Saudi Arabia as the major funder of outfits like al Qaeda and the Taliban.   Iraq's Shiite majority government in Baghdad also considers Saudi Arabia a much greater threat to Iraq than Iran could ever be.

Runners-up in the terrorism funding game are Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.  Yes, that Kuwait, the one the West liberated from Saddam.

Oddly enough there's been not a whimper out of Sarah Palin, John McCain or Newt Gingrich about leveling the Gulf oil states.  Hypocrisy?  Ya think?