Yesterday, the new Saudi ambassador adressed the Middle East Institute in a speech which sought to white wash the kingdom's terrorist connections. Saudi Arabia, he argued, has never supported terrorists and the only reason we do not know it is that the media fails to tell us:

They [terrorists] wrongly attempt to use Islam to bolster and proselytize their extremism. They wrongly pervert Islamic texts in order to support their political agendas. They wrongly issue politically motivated fatwas permitting suicide bombings and the taking of innocent lives. . .

well before 9-11, religious scholars in Saudi Arabia had consistently and unequivocally condemned terrorism ingeneral and suicide bombings in particular

Nice words. Of course, he does not mention the 2002 telethon his current king ran on behalf of suicide bombers and their families. Nor the way involvement with the Saudis led City Bank to involvement with terror.

Yesterday was also the day the Senate Judicial committee held a session ( unattended by the STATE DEPARTMENT) in which the senators were told yet again that the Saudis are not doing enough to control monetary support of terrorist organization. Moreover, they distribute literature seeking to recruit American Muslims to the global struggle against Christianity and Judaism. Moreover:

In one instance, a booklet distributed by the Saudi Embassy in Washington offers instructions on how to “build a wall of resentment” between Muslims and infidels, said Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom.

Among the book’s directives: “Never greet the Christian or Jew first. Never congratulate the infidel on his holiday. Never befriend an infidel unless it is to convert him. Never imitate the infidel. Never work for an infidel,” Shea quoted during a committee hearing. . . .

She said hate literature, booklets, text books and other material was gathered from mosques and Islamic centers in cities across the United States, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Washington and New York. Some of the material was published by the Saudi Education Ministry, Shea said.