The Associated Press continues their shameless whitewashing of radical Islam, with a blatantly misleading headline: Saudi Cleric Denounces Suicide Bombing.

Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, the kingdom’s highest religious authority, denounced the bombing in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

“God revealed the criminality of this wayward group, which harms Islam and the nation,” al-Sheik said. “Instead, it aims at destabilizing security, terrorizing the people and killing Muslims.”

“Whoever kills an (Islamic) believer on purpose will be punished by being burned in hell, punished by God’s anger and will be cursed and suffer great pain,” he said.

Note: the Grand Mufti of the Saudi did not condemn suicide bombings in general. He denounced this suicide bombing, and only because it was targeted at Muslims. You didn’t hear one word from the Grand Mufti when Islamic suicide terrorists struck in Bali, in Israel, in Istanbul, in Madrid, or in New York City.

And the oil ticks’ Interior Minister is even more up-front about it:

While visiting the wounded in a hospital, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said the “terrorists are not targeting foreigners; they are targeting the nation.”

UPDATE: Allah informs me that the Grand Mufti did issue a half-hearted condemnation of the 9/11 attacks, a few days afterward when the Saudis were in serious butt-covering mode.

“Firstly: the recent developments in the United States including hijacking planes, terrorizing innocent people and shedding blood, constitute a form of injustice that cannot be tolerated by Islam, which views them as gross crimes and sinful acts.

“Secondly: any Muslim who is aware of the teachings of his religion and who adheres to the directives of the Holy Qur’an and the sunnah (the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) will never involve himself in such acts, because they will invoke the anger of God Almighty and lead to harm and corruption on earth.

“Thirdly: it is the duty of the Muslim ulema (religious scholars) to make facts clear in this respect, and to clarify that Islam never accepts such acts.

“Fourthly: the media which try to defame Islam and Muslims in order to rally against them the feelings of various nations, should immediately stop this unacceptable and unjustifiable practice, since all reasonable and just people know that such biased accusations have nothing to do with Islam.”

UPDATE: Here’s a more complete account of the Grand Mufti’s condemnation of the Saudi bombings; compare the following to the post-9/11 statement above: Riyadh bombing attack condemned by Grand Mufti. (Hat tip: Abu Maven.)

“God has promised wrath, damnation, painful torture and an eternity burning in hell for he who deliberately kills a Muslim… Unjustly killing a Muslim is the gravest crime which cannot be atoned,” said the kingdom’s highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh.

“I tell all Muslims that this act is a sin, it is one of the greatest sins,” he said in a statement. “Aiding, calling for, or facilitating the murder of a Muslim is tantamount to involvement in murder and all who do so will be thrown by God into the flames of hell, for so dear is the sanctity of Muslim blood.”