IOKIYUAE

So, not long after reading about President Bush's staunch defense of the corporations of the United Arab Emirates as plucky entrepreneurs who deserve the same opportunities as Great Britain, and strongly implies that it's the forces of racism and intolerance holding them back, I see this little gem in today's White House Briefing OPINION column, in reference to Al Gore's denunciation of post-9/11 American abuses against the Arab world in (gasp!)... Saudi Arabia:

The comments stirred an angry reaction on the right and in the blogosphere, and also drew a rebuke from Peter Wehner, director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives, which was e-mailed to reporters and others Tuesday. "It is noteworthy that Mr. Gore would travel to Saudi Arabia -- a repressive society which is the home of Osama bin Laden and most of the terrorists who executed the worst attack on the American homeland in our history -- to criticize (inaccurately) our government's response to that attack."

Umm... so which is it? Are Arab nations the underdog standardbearers of free enterprise, swimming against the tide of racism and paranoia, or are they hateful enemies of democracy who want to destroy us for our freedoms?

For me personally, there's not a whole lot of difference between Saudi Arabia and UAE. I think they're both unreliable and faithless "allies," but in terms of where they stand with BushCo, I'm pretty sure the country that got slammed is far more favored and influential. As Froomkin helpfully reminds us:

But doesn't the White House's new get-tough rhetoric on Saudia Arabia clash somewhat with this memorable photo of Bush holding Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's hand as the two men walked through a field of bluebonnets at Bush's Crawford ranch last spring?

Mwahahahaha... You just can't make this shit up.