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First of all, being an ally is not being a 'close friend.' The government of Saudi Arabia is working with us to eliminate terror within the country, not actively working against us.

While it is obvious that the government there has not done enough in the past, and that SA has bred terrorists, there is a significant difference between the government there and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam's brutal Baathist regime in Iraq.

We're not going to militarily take out the government of every country where terrorism exists. This is a multi-faceted war, and if you think it's not being fought in Saudi Arabia, you're missing some information.

President Bush has referred to them time and again as being friends, including using the term "close friend" (not just when he's had various members of their government visiting his ranch, either), but regardless...

Yes, they are not the Taliban, and yes, they are fighting terrorists.

However, they are not going after the extremists, the Imams, the temples that are still spreading religious hatred, the money that is flowing out. There is a lot of anti-American/Western preaching going on in Saudi Arabia and it's not being clamped down upon.

Thinking of it as fighting a house fire, by hosing down the lawn around it, and not directly going after the source. By continuing to let it burn, every now and then the fire is going to jump the lawn and spread.

I know I'm not the only one who wouldn't be surprised if there was a Saudi connection to the London bombings..

I'm not defending the Saudis..........just deliniating the differences between the countries where we have intervened militarily, and those we have not.

Your first cryptic post to me implied that you thought that we should invade Saudi Arabia militarily and kill the terrorists there.

I'm just making the distinction between the necessity of invading Afghanistan and Iraq, and your implication that we should do the same in Saudi Arabia.

Neither of us knows what kinds of pressures are being put on the Saudi government by the Bush administration behind the scenes to go after the Imams and shut down the rhetoric.

btw.....I wouldn't be surprised if there were Saudis involved in any terrorist attack...........but that's not the point, IMO.