CBS 60 Minutes: That Corrupt House of Saud

It is really easy to hate the corrupt House of Saud, and all their skanky progeny, raping the oil of their people, resisting principled leadership, lording it over a strategically undereducated and impoverished populace, making the GDP of the country their own little family checkbook. What's not to hate about the House of Saud? But 60 Minutes kicks it up a notch.

Apparently Bush is so cozy with them that Barbara, "Bar" Bush, wife of Bush the Elder, allows the skanky Prince Bandar the luxury of smoking in their house at their crib. He is the only person allowed to do so:

"'To this day,' the elder George wrote to The New Yorker, 'Bandar is the only person besides the President of the United States that Bar lets smoke in our house, although both have to do it in their room with the door closed.'"

Say what you will about the House of Saud and their underage prostitutes, they know how to buy a President. The sleazy corrupt bastards could also spell the end of the Bush dynasty if Kerry makes them a campaign issue. And he should.

60 Minutes reports on Sunday:

"A London-based Saudi dissident says Saudi Arabia framed Britain for bombings in its capital in an effort to pressure the British to stop his group from criticizing the Saudi regime."

"...The Saudi government reacted to a series of bombings in Riyadh that began in late 2000 by arresting five Britons, a Belgian and a Canadian, even though expatriates were the apparent target and Muslim fundamentalists the probable perpetrators.

"The Westerners confessed and were convicted of the bombings, they say, after being tortured -- a fact the Saudis deny, but doctors have confirmed. In the confessions, the detainees say they were forced to implicate British diplomats in Saudi Arabia. It was all part of a plot against his group, says al-Faghi.

"'They wanted to use those detainees as leverage to twist the British arm in order to force them to kick us out of Britain or do something to silence us,' al-Faghi tells Bradley."

The harrowing story continues:

"Al-Faghi's group has criticized the House of Saud for years, condemning the repressive kingdom on a radio station beamed into the country that the British allow the organization to operate from the United Kingdom. "

"Saudi Arabia took drastic action because it was frustrated, says al-Faghi. 'We are a political opposition to the Saudi regime and because they've tried all means to harm us, to convince the British that we are doing wrong things, [but] they failed,' he says.

"Britain did not capitulate. A team from Scotland Yard was forced to investigate the diplomats in Riyadh and found no basis for the allegations. The detainees, however, spent several years in captivity, enduring more torture, and for two of them, the promised threat of execution. A personal plea from Prime Minister Tony Blair last summer got them pardoned and released - but not exonerated. The Saudi government still considers them guilty.

"This is difficult for Briton Sandy Mitchell, who with his friend, Canadian Bill Sampson, spent two-and-a-half years on death row.

"'To my dying day, I will hate myself for this,' says Mitchell, 'because I was ashamed of having to falsely accuse two innocent men and I had to name two British diplomats.'

"Sampson is resigned to the injustice. 'I know the members of [the Saudi] government are hypocrites. I know the members of their government are liars and therefore I do not expect anything better from them than that,' says Sampson.

"Prince Turki al Faisal, who was head of Saudi intelligence when the men were arrested, twice postponed an interview with 60 Minutes before finally declining to talk to Bradley."

Watch this on 60 Minutes Sunday at 7pm. Now, if you'll excuse me, writing about the House of Saud makes me want to take a shower.