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Red, I am sorry to shatter your illusions, but your top Ay-rabs and especially the princelings are pretty good boozers. Once they leave the Kingdom, the feeling is that the proscription on alcohol is off. "Leave the Kingdom" can mean stepping on a yacht tied to the dock... Flying over the Kingdom.... Visiting the abode of an infidel... medicinal purposes behind the high faux-mud walls ... stepping into the back room at Shorty Achmed's Gas Station ... hitting the fleshpots of Dubai, Quatar,,,,, doing a sex tour to Thailand, etc. It's a moveable feast.

Nor are ....gasp ... bootleg spirits unknown to the lower ranking neighbors. Dates, raisins, etc. etc. etc. are distilled into a fiery brew called "siddiqui" which sort of means "my friend." Avoid it, unless you have a liver donor lined up.

BTW, Ole Mo hisself (May Peace Be Upon Him, of course) was known to hoist a few and is not the author of the ban on alcohol, which is very strictly enforced. If a foreign guest worker (Euro or American) is loaded under the wrong circumstances or in the wrong place, it can be immediate deportation. If it's an African, Filipino, Indian, or Pakistani, trust me, it's a lot more horrible than that.

What, you thought I was the only hypocrite on the planet?