The New York Times joins the Washington Post in promoting Saudi propaganda today, with an obsequious article about Prince Bandar and his wife. The tone is summed up in the headline: Explaining Gift, Saudi Envoy Voices Pain for Strained Ties. Oh the humanity.

Princess Haifa, for her part, said she felt as if a bomb had been dropped on her head last weekend when reporters began telephoning to question her about the contributions. Since then, the princess, 51, has found herself at the center of a political storm, so much so that prominent Republicans have called her to offer support.

On Monday night, she was in the family area of the pool house attached to the ambassador’s residence in McLean, Va., fielding calls from friends and family members. The two youngest of her eight children breezed through for good-night kisses. Then the phone rang again.

“Thank you so much for calling,” she said to Barbara Bush, the president’s mother, who called to express support and sympathy. Alma Powell, the secretary’s wife, had called earlier.

The jaw-dropper in this article, though, is Bandar’s last sentence. I never cease to be amazed at the bald-faced hypocrisy of the Saudis—and at the fawning complicity of our own media, who let the Saudis get away unchallenged with statements like this:

Both Prince Bandar and Princess Haifa said they were concerned that the clash of civilizations that President Bush and other leaders had sought to prevent since Sept. 11 was beginning to take hold in both countries.

“Of course I am worried,” he said. “When we start bad-mouthing other people’s religion, common sense goes out the window.”