But the Saudis have promised to open an embassy in Baghdad and come to peace talks with Israel, administration boosters will say. Well, not exactly. The Saudis said they will consider opening the embassy and consider coming to a peace conference. Frankly, opening that Baghdad embassy makes Saudi sense (so much easier to supply insurgents in Iraq using the diplomatic pouch). But since when is the presence of a world-class human rights violator at a peace conference something worth groveling for?
Answer: Since this week, when the United States, represented by Rice, signed a joint statement endorsing the Saudi's pet peace plan, the one that sends Israel back to indefensible, pre-1967 borders. What comes in return? Arab recognition of Israel. (Oh, joy! The retrograde human rights violators might possibly recognize the freedom-loving democracy!) This is one big booby prize. It also marks a momentous shift in American policy that proves one calamitous truth: Jihad terrorism works.
It's a dispiriting truth for a dispiriting time. American resolve has given way to American submission, and almost no one has noticed. Very little outrage over the Saudi sale has bubbled over, even in what could still be called the war camp. Israelis themselves have expressed little or no dissent. So far, with the exception of New Jersey Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson, the anti-Saudi support group seems centered in a small segment of the Democratic Left: New York Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Anthony Weiner, Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, leftist writer Robert Scheer, and presidential candidate John Edwards.
Which leaves us where, exactly? Somehow, it seems appropriate to reply: wandering in the wilderness.