Here is the latest Iraq Index from the Brookings Institute. Flick down to page 25 of the PDF and you'll find a handy pie-chart about those foreign "militants" currently trying to kill our soldiers in Iraq.

Almost half are Saudis.

Given that this country teaches its children that they are our enemies, given that its citizens supply both the fighters and the finance to attack our troops, and given that it also tries to persuade Muslims in other countries to do the same, then why the hell do we put up with it?

Two years ago Bush said we're going to end our addiction to middle eastern oil. What happens next will be interesting for the Saudis.

1) Since announcing the "end' to our addiction to oil, Bush has done something between jack and squat to move us in that direction.

2) Yes! Almost half of the foreign militants fighting us in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia. And yet, they are our "friends" in the region, while McCain and Bush focus almost incessantly on the much smaller percentage of Iranians in Iraq. Note that in the pie chart, Iranians don't even get their own category and are part of "other".

1) Squat??

Bush has diverted a third of US corn production into biofuels. Did that fact just miss you or something? Odd, because the left-wing press is full of it.

2) Saudi Arabia is the second-biggest supplier of oil to the US. Do you recommend that you suddenly tell the tankers to head back to Saudi? What effect do you think that order would have on the US economy?

1) Corn ethanol is a joke. We'd need to cover the entire country in corn fields to replace our oil consumption. This is not a viable alternative fuel plan, it's a sop to argibusiness to supplement corn growing.

2) Yes. The effect would be that in the short term, we'd buy more from Canada (#1) and Mexico (#3). Or is it okay for a country to support terrorism as long as they pretend to be our "friend"? Is that really your position?

1) It may be a joke, but it's not "squat".

2) No, I think we should slowly wean ourselves of Saudi oil, instead of going "cold turkey". Wich is exactly what the underrated Mr Bush is trying to do.

1) Joke = squat

2) Yeah, that's must be why he flew out there this summer to beg them to increase production. Whatever.