Bandar's "Big Lie"

Saudi Prince Bandar has wined and dined and charmed American leaders for years. He's an old figure on the scene, and our leaders always seem to make a big damn deal of trying to please him. But this editorial is pretty amazing. I cannot imagine any American can take this very seriously:

I acknowledge that the Palestinians' greatest crime is their insistence on resisting the military occupation of their country. This strange principle of resistance to military occupation of one's country seems to be difficult for many American political, intellectual and media elite to comprehend -- even though it has been practiced by others in the past, such as Nelson Mandela in South Africa under apartheid and Gen. George Washington during British colonial rule, and even Menachem Begin during the British Mandate of Palestine.

"Their" country, of course, is the whole of the Mandate, absent any Jewish presence. THAT is what the good prince means when he writes this. But the audacity of comparing Arafat to George Washington is a bit over the top, even by Bandar standards.

The rest of the article is just as bad. But it's worth reading, just to see what passes for a "moderate" in the Arab world: a completely delusional prince who has the audacity to ask repeatedly if he is insane. Answer: Yes, and your article is the evidence sir.

Now go leave good Americans alone until you've found the Arab Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Paine valiantly resisting the Israeli "occupiers." We'll be waiting to read your account of it, with the seriousness it deserves.

[Posted at 19:40 CST on 04/05/02] [Link]