THE SAUDI LOBBY

The Vast Power of the Saudi Lobby - John R. MacArthur (Harper's)
Given my dissident politics, I should be up in arms about the Israel lobby. [ED. WHY?] Somehow, though, when I think of pernicious foreign lobbies with disproportionate sway over American politics, I can't see past Saudi Arabia and its royal house, led by King Abdullah. Ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt met aboard ship in 1945 with King Ibn Saud, the special relationship with the desert kingdom has only grown stronger. The House of Saud is usually happy to sell us oil at a consistent and reasonable price. In exchange we arm the Saudis to the teeth and turn a blind eye to their medieval approach to crime and punishment.

Lately, King Abdullah has been making anti-American noises, calling the U.S. presence in Iraq an "illegitimate foreign occupation." But like the Saudis' paper-thin devotion to the Palestinian cause, this is just so much realpolitik. Today, as the Shi'ism scholar Amal Saad-Ghorayeb told Mohamad Bazzi of Newsday, "the Saudis are being more autonomous, but it's a very contrived sense of autonomy" designed "to give [them] more political cover so they can rally Arab support against [Shi'ite] Iran." The writer is the publisher of Harper's Magazine.

U.S. to Sell Smart Bombs to Saudi Arabia - Ze'ev Schiff (Ha'aretz)
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during his visit to Israel that Washington has decided to sell Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs to Saudi Arabia. The Israel Air Force has purchased the high-accuracy JDAMs, and used them against Hizbullah targets during the Second Lebanon War. Israel argues that the presence of such weapons in Arab countries undermines Washington's pledge that Israel will enjoy a qualitative edge in the region.

The main component of the JDAM is not the bomb itself, but rather its tail kit, which can also be installed on an ordinary bomb. The target location is fed to the system by satellite and a computer determines the best moment for the pilot to release the bomb. Pilots say this type of bomb "can be aimed through a window."