SobekPundit

Still Pissed Off About the Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Monday, August 01, 2005

Darth Fahd is Dead

Every day, literally hundreds of people ask me, "Hey Sobek, what do you expect will happen now that Saudi King Fahd is dead?"

Until today, the question has mostly left me perplexed, because I don't even know hundreds of people, and I have no idea how they've figured out my screen name, and before today, King Fahd was still alive.

Well, it's an easy enough mistake to make, I suppose, because Crown Prince Abdullah has pretty much been running the show for the past ten years. And since Abdullah is now the man officially in charge, I'd have to say things will probably not change at all.

Reactions around Washington D.C. were reportedly mixed. Senator Byrd, for example, somewhat enigmatically described the development as "disturbing."

"I sense a great disturbance among those towel heads."

Update: Steve the Llama Butcher thinks Fahd's death means things are about to get interesting. Well, with all due respect for a guy who thinks he's a llama hopped up on airplane glue, I think he might be overestimating the erstwhile king's actual involvement in Saudi governance. But here's an interesting statement:

"What happens next will be extremely important, as the larger war we are currently a part of is in many ways an exported Saudi Arabian Civil War."

Sounds like a fair assessment to me. Reminds me of some liberal friends of mine (and ultra-conservative moron Mike Savage) who criticized the War on Terror by pointing out that Bush hasn't invaded Saudi Arabia even though fourteen of nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. That kind of claim ignores the important point highlighted by Monsieur le Llama, to wit: Saudi extremists aren't particularly fond of the royal family.

Granted, I'm not either, but a) they're better than the alternative, and b) I'm not about to blow up civilians to register my disfavor.