Free Republic

Khashoggi never had much time for western-style pluralistic democracy. In the 1970s he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, which exists to rid the Islamic world of western influence. He was a political Islamist until the end, recently praising the Muslim Brotherhood in the Washington Post. He championed the ‘moderate’ Islamist opposition in Syria, whose crimes against humanity are a matter of record. Khashoggi frequently sugarcoated his Islamist beliefs with constant references to freedom and democracy. But he never hid that he was in favour of a Muslim Brotherhood arc throughout the Middle East. His recurring plea to bin Salman in his...

The rancor between Louis Freeh and former President Bill Clinton, who appointed him director of the F.B.I. in 1993, was laid raw anew today as Mr. Freeh continued his assault on the Clinton administration's handling of terrorism, while a former presidential aide accused Mr. Freeh of an "astonishing string of failures that helped leave America vulnerable to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." Mr. Freeh, appearing on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" to promote a book he has written, repeated his assertion that the Clinton administration had failed to grasp the scope and severity of the threat of terrorism and had...

<p>Reliable sources in the Saudi capital of Riyadh said Friday that King Fahd is dead, reports the Saudi Institute.</p> <p>The king had been dead since late Wednesday, according several well placed sources in the capital of Riydah who spoke to the Saudi Institute, a pro-democracy think tank in Washington, on condition of anonymity.</p>

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia declared a state of alert and canceled all leave of its security forces on Friday after ailing King Fahd was taken to hospital, an Interior Ministry official said. "The authorities declared a state of alert, canceled all leave of the security forces and put forces on standby after the king was admitted to hospital," the official told Reuters. The ruler of the world's top oil exporter was taken to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh on Friday evening with a fever and water in his lungs. "King Fahd was running a high temperature for three...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - King Fahd, who moved Saudi Arabia closer to the United States during his two-decade rule, was taken to a Riyadh hospital Friday for medical tests, the Saudi Press Agency said. An Arab official said the government had put the kingdom on a state of alert and canceled all military leaves. But the Interior Ministry denied that any emergency had been declared. "This is absolutely not true," ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said. "There's no canceling of leaves and no state of emergency or anything."

Riyadh, 29 April (AKI) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah's visit to the United States this week to discuss oil matters with President George W. Bush, took place amid growing speculation back home that the bed-ridden King Fahd's condition has worsened with the monarch slipping out of conciousness. Speculation is rife among Riyadh's ruling elite of Fahd's clinical death - but even if this were true, any official announcement would delayed until a final decision on Fahd's successor has been taken. Sources close to the Saudi royal family told Adnkronos International about the "suspicious" disappearance of King Fahd from public...

Riyadh, 29 April (AKI) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah's visit to the United States this week to discuss oil matters with President George W. Bush, took place amid growing speculation back home that the bed-ridden King Fahd's condition has worsened with the monarch slipping out of conciousness. Speculation is rife among Riyadh's ruling elite of Fahd's clinical death - but even if this were true, any official announcement would delayed until a final decision on Fahd's successor has been taken. Sources close to the Saudi royal family told Adnkronos International about the "suspicious" disappearance of King Fahd from...

We could summarize the less obtuse journalistic comments on President Bush's meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah at his (Bush's) Crawford, Texas ranch in this way: The United States wants cheap oil and democracy; the Sauds want dear oil and despotism; the Arabians (as opposed to their rulers) want dear oil and, maybe, democracy. On the oil, the problem is not one the Sauds can solve for us, until we (the consumers, in U.S. and elsewhere) succeed in breaking the OPEC cartel through which prices are manipulated within extreme limits of market reality. Destroying OPEC would force them, the extended Saud...