King Fahd Tributes Ring Hollow

The King is dead! Long live the King!

And don't forget the rule that when a king dies, everyone and their undersecretary for internal gastric affairs has to get into the act and pretend what a wonderful person the king was.

King Fahd's death is no exception.

In spite of being King only because his family owns the entire country (or likes to think it does), and in spite of the fact that Fahd ruled of one of the most repressed, intolerant, racist and bigoted nations in the world, and in spite of the fact that the Saudi national version of Islam (Wahhabism) is one of the primary sources for radical Islamist theology, and in spite of the fact that his country produced 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers, otherwise sane and intelligent men such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair are saying things like,

King Fahd was a man of great vision and leadership who inspired his countrymen for a quarter of a century as king, and for many more before that.

French President Chirac expressed "profound sadness" and added that,

During his reign, King Fahd put the safety of his people above all else. In perilous times he was the guarantor of his country's cohesion and the defender of regional stability.

Not surprisingly, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was the first Arab dignitary to fly into the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Monday. After all, without financing from the Saudis, where would the PLO have been able to afford all those AK-47s and plastic explosives?

Chirac and Britain's Prince Charles are actually planning to stand alongside Abbas and other squeaky-clean dignitaries from the region so as to pay homage to this despot and his despotic family.

Please, please, let the United States be represented by our new UN Ambassador John Bolton!