Richard Cohen's column yesterday exemplifies the incoherent rage of the left which pervades our media. In this column "Rage in Riyadh," Cohen bemoans the "rage" which Saudis feel when they face such inconveniences as "humiliating" immigration delays or the anger when one would—be immigrant was denied a visa because he had ignored a traffic ticket.

Yet, many law enforcement and terrorist experts have long—complained that the Visa Express program, which permitted Saudis extraordinarily easy access to America was one of the causes of 9/11, because it gave an upper hand to terrorists, as a column in Thursday's Washington Times stated. 

Perhaps Mr. Cohen forgot that at least one of the 9/11 hijackers also shared a history of "blowing off" traffic tickets, and that under the renowned "broken windows" theory, one problem with the law often is a tip—off of a pattern of illegality.

What was telling is that Cohen chooses to use the term "humiliating" when describing the grievances of the Saudis. This is the same propaganda term that Arab terrorists and their apologists use when justifying murder of innocents. Meanwhile, Cohen ignores the anti—Semitism and anti—Americanism being taught, not just in Saudi schools, but around in the world, including in Cohen's own backyard — specifically, the Saudi—supported Virginia school where the man arrested on suspicions of plotting to murder George Bush was "educated".

Cohen also ignores the support the Saudis have shown for terror around in the world, including those Saudis attacking our military in Iraq. Columnists like Cohen will often ignore inconvenient facts, such as the inconvenient reality that Bush has been roundly attacked by fellow liberals for being "too close" to the Saudis. Yet now Cohen decries the Bush Administration's for not being "close enough" to the Saudis.
 
When a Washington Post columnist takes the side of Saudi Arabia and distorts reality to do so, the incoherent rage of the left is what is obvious and lamentable, not the rage of Saudi Arabia.