Wizblog

How The Saudis Buy The State Dept.

Joel Mowbray has done as much as anyone to expose the all too cozy relationship between the Saudi royal family and the U.S. State Dept.. His book Dangerous Diplomacy breaks new gound on that topic. In this Townhall article, he looks at another embarrassing example of the kid glove treatment given even to known terrorists, who happen to be in the company of our "friend" Crown Prince Abdullah. I guess it's because of that Saudi-sponsored "supplemental retirement plan":

Though it cannot be said that U.S. diplomats do favors for the Saudis in the hopes of lucrative payoffs later on, the Saudis reward those officials who were kind to them while working for the State Department. Scads of former State Department officials now either work directly for the Saudis or for organizations that take Saudi petrodollars.

The Saudis think it is money well spent. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador the United States, once said, “If the reputation then builds that the Saudis take care of friends when they leave office, you’d be surprised how much better friends you have who are just coming into office.”