The Hot Desert Sun Can Scramble One's Brains

This is the view of Prince Turki al-Faisal, a leading figure in Saudi Arabia's royal family:-

"In the public sphere," he said, "there are journalists whose view is so distorted by the neoconservative mantle -- or, as I call it, 'burqa,' that they wear -- that they cannot see that the call for independence from Middle East oil is a canard that defrauds the average consumer of energy by promising him clean energy, which is nonexistent, and to pay a higher price for that energy regardless of the abundant availability of the secure source of energy that comes from the Middle East -- and at a cheaper price."

If that sounds weird to you, let's quote him some more:

...[he] called Israel "a drain on the United States, and not an asset" Friday while accusing the Obama administration of a blatant pro-Israel bias in its Middle East policy.

"Within the makeup of this administration, ladies and gentleman, there are officials who rationalize, excuse, and condone Israeli intransigence while seeking to put more pressure on the Palestinians to concede even more," Mr. Al Faisal said, in a speech to the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. "These same officials believe that the Palestinian problem is not the root cause of Arab and Muslim antagonism to the United States. It is these officials who propose that the Netanyahu government should be rewarded for its intransigence rather than sanctioned."

..."Saudi Arabia," he said, "agreed with other Arab states to give peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine a chance -- more than once -- under the United-States-negotiated partial colony freeze. The United States failed to stick to its assurances and, to add insult to injury, offered the Netanyahu government more money, arms, protection from U.N. sanction, and, shamefully, the stationing of Israeli troops on Palestinian territory -- as if this territory were part of the United States' sovereign lands. And this was to get him to extend the partial freeze for a few more days. Now that the Netanyahu government has rejected that offer, we are waiting to see what else the United States will offer."

And he went on:

He said that throughout history, the United States had shown "its capability to bring Israeli craven ambition to heel in many instances."

"However -- and there is always a however as well when dealing with the United States -- there has grown over the years a web of very tight and strong strings that bind the U.S. to her client state, Israel."

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