KINGDOM COME - HIGH AND DRY

The U.S. was founded as an anti-monarchist nation. The idea was that a kingdom was antithetical to the notion of freedom and democracy. Today the U.S. is so deeply "embedded" with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia that one might say they have become joined at the hip, or the purse.

George W. Bush told the American people that he was going to the Middle East last week to bring peace to the region. He lied. His real purpose was to go to the region as a salesman. And he made quite a deal.

Bush delivered promises to the region of weapons sales in the amount of $20 billion. That is quite a haul for the military industrial complex. As a way to make this deal palatable to the American people he made lots of bold and threatening comments about Iran's desire to take over the region. Thus Bush portrayed himself as a protector of the holy crown.

The arms sales deal includes $123 million worth of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia so they can continue to hold off opposition to their authoritarian kingdom.

The United Arab Emirates coughed up $9.763 billion for a Patriot missile defense system and upgrades to early warning aircraft.

Kuwait will get $1.691 billion worth of missiles and upgrades to its Patriot missile system.

Much more will be disclosed at a later date when no one is paying any attention.

Congress has 30 days to block the weapons sales. They won't need the deadline because they will not do anything to stop it. The Democrats, by and large, want the weapons contracts in their congressional districts because endless war is the industrial policy of America today.

Now you would think that Israel is upset about Bush handing out weapons to Arab countries. But they are not. Why? Because Washington, the Associated Press reports, has promised to counterbalance the sales to Arabs with new military "assistance" (which probably means grants) to the Jewish state -- a more than 25% increase over the next 10 years.

Thus high and dry in the desert. Arm all sides, keep the war footing high, drain the national treasury right before our eyes all the while convincing the American people they are protecting us from terrorism.

High and dry for sure.