$20B for the Saudis!?!

So much for the idea that propping up Middle Eastern tyrants is a thing of the past. It was announced today that the Bush Administration is going to pump $20 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia in order to bolster that decrepit regime against the decrepit regime in Tehran. I'm really at a loss for words over this one. All that wonderful prose in the Second Inaugural about spreading the untamed fires of liberty and supporting democrats wherever they may be, it turns out to be a little less than equally applied. Right now the Saudis are holding prisoner, without charges for over a month, a blogger who had the unmitigated gall to be critical of his regime. The Saudis do not allow women the right to vote. 15 of 19 hijackers on 9/11. On and on. And they get a big arms deal because they're less bad than the Iranians. Pardon me while I lament another part of the Bush Doctrine passing into history.