Clinton-Saudi Relations Saved Bin Laden

All the leftist hoo-haw about President Bush's ties to Saudi Arabia ignore the obvious: Every modern American president has sought good relations with the Saudis because of the strategic importance of that country and its oil to our world leadership.

Betsy has an amazing post about a story on Al Jazeera about all the missed opportunities that have kept America from attacking and disposing of bin Laden in the pre-9/11 years.

All of the examples are from the Clinton Administration, including this one:

On one occasion a satellite photographed the Al-Qaeda leader on a hunting trip, but the White House ordered the CIA not to launch a missile attack after finding out that princes from a friendly Arab country were in his party.

It looks like Clinton's desire to maintain good relations with the Saudis -- obviously, the princes mentioned here are Saudi princes -- caused bin Laden to survive. Michael Moore, unfortunately, won't share this story with his angry and simplistically impressionistic fans.