More Opinions Columnists

• V.B. Price: Preserving our water is greatest challenge the city, state faces
• Jeffry Gardner: End of The Trib is part of the demise of serious journalism
• Katherine Augustine: Time with friends from Japan provides treasured memories

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

The war and soaring gas prices are exposing more Americans to two basic truths: The Saudi royal family is not our friend. The Saudi royal family is not anyone's friends.

While we're rightly concerned about Iran — which is scrambling to build a nuclear weapon and funneling arms and, probably, human weapons into Iraq — the Saudi royal family chugs along, old, frail, ruling its desert domain on thin ice and busily financing schools around the world that indoctrinate young students with Wahabbism — a virulent strain of Islam.

Now, before any readers slap this paper with the back of their respective hands and say, "Aha! See? He admits the Bush family has sold us out to the devils," let's understand something: Zero administrations over the last 30 or so years haven't cut Faustian deals with the Saudis.

Sadly, we've created a good deal of our own misery. Sure, we use too much energy. But we're also the only nation in the world that cuts itself off from its own energy resources.

Environmentalists are terrified of nuclear power. We can't explore for oil. We can't drill for it in areas where we know it sits like a giant lake of freedom — if only long enough for us to develop genuine alternative energy systems. One suspects that today Jed Clampett would face stiff Environmental Protection Agency fines and possibly prison time, were he to strike crude — "oil, that is: black gold, Texas Tea," while "shootin' at some food."

However, while we're far from alone, we are in the clutches of devils.

President Bush's trip to Middle East in early January underscored this truth. While we were busy selling the Saudis advanced weapons and weapons systems, — showering them with joint direct-attact munitions (smart bombs) — and upgrading their old Patriot missiles, we asked two little things in return.

First, we wanted them to cross their hearts and swear that they wouldn't take these new arms and direct them all at Israel. "Not to worry," they said. Right.

Then we asked if they might open the spigot a bit. Pump up a little more oil, you know, for the effort. Their oil minister responded almost immediately: "Get real." Or something like that.

Actually, what the Saudis did say was far worse. We'll "respond to market demands," they offered. Right now, the market's demanding, and the Saudi royals are cashing in on our admittedly self-inflicted pain. We give them presidential hugs and bombs; they give us sand.

As for the Saudis themselves, who knows? They might well like Americans. Or they might hate us with the fervor the Saudi royals help promote throughout the Muslim world. The point is, we don't know, because the royal family — a tiny enclave of people — denies the citizens of their kingdom any voice of their own.

Like the man said: The Saudi royal family isn't our friend. The Saudi royal family isn't anyone's friend.