Playing (or being played by) the Saudis

William Kristol on how we may be “turning the corner” in Iraq and why we are displaying “stupidity” with respect to Saudi Arabia. For Kristol, the stupidity consists of the Bush administration’s decision to redact 28 pages of material regarding Saudi Arabia from the congressional report on 9/11. Kristol argues that there is no excuse for averting our eyes from the pre-9/11 unwillingness of the Saudis to cooperate on matters relating to bin Laden. However, if the administration is successfully using the report as leverage to induce increased Saudi cooperation in taking on al Qaeda now, then the decision to redact the incriminating material may be justified. This seems like a judgment call and I would tend to defer to the administration.