Just in case you harbor some illusions that the Saudi “peace plan” is anything but a public relations scam: Saudi Plan Seen Benefiting Relations with U.S. This Reuters article contains some rather amusing passages:

While a positive effect might be improved U.S.-Saudi ties, analysts are quick to point out they do not believe Prince Abdullah’s peace initiative was a public relations exercise.

Charles Freeman, president of the Middle East Policy Council and a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, said the crown prince was “personally anguished” by events in the Middle East and his initiative was a response to domestic outrage over what was happening.

“The only connection with the U.S. is that there is a sense of exasperation in Saudi Arabia that the U.S. has not stepped up to the plate (in the Middle East peace process),” he said.

I’m sorry. I actually laughed out loud when I read that. What an awful cynic I must be to believe otherwise! What self-loathing I feel.

But … “stepped up to the plate?” It’s interesting that when pressed to actually state what it is that Arabs don’t like about our Middle East policy, the apologists and mouthpieces invariably get fuzzy.