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Mahmoud's List

By Christopher Beam
Posted Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006, at 5:41 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

Conservative Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters suspects that, given the importance of the post, "something deeply wrong has happened." Saudi King Abdullah may have died, he points out—a situation that "could generate more instability in Saudi Arabia and a further inspiration to al-Qaeda."

Ape Man at The Liberal Avenger wonders if maybe, just maybe, Saudi Arabia is reconsidering its alliance with a weakened United States. Pure speculation, he admits, but it's possible the House of Saud is realigning with Iran: "An alliance with Iran would seem unlikely to those who tend to see everything in the Middle East through the 'Sunni vs. Shiite' lens … but both countries have a major interest in containing the Iraq war within Iraq's borders AND in maintaining the operability of the Strait of Hormuz as a viable export path."

Read more about Prince Faisal's departure.

Tree-for-all: Christmas trees have returned to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. They were removed after a rabbi had threatened legal action unless the airport included a menorah in the display, but he later said that he hadn't intended for the trees to be taken away. Bloggers debate who won this round in the "war on Christmas."

California Conservative calls the move "a loss for the ACLU and their PC police." Christian nuclear physicist David Heddle at He Lives argues that "there are no heroes in this story—only buffoons" and chastises airport management: "You caved to the rabbi, and now you are caving to the overwhelming criticism you justly received. What will you do, after you put them back up, if some imam threatens to sue?"

Mark Shea at Catholic and Enjoying It! thinks the flap "makes for great comedy": "You've got the wimpy 'Holiday Trees' reminding us that Christmas is, for Blue Staters, the Holiday that Dare Not Say it's Name. You've got the rabbi who goes to the Port with his Big Gun lawyer demanding an instant menorah or else it's lawsuit city (and then acting surprised that the Port felt threatened). You've got the cowardly Port guys who were too timid to even defend 'Holiday Trees' and too thick to say, "Sure, stick a menorah over there by Baggage Claim.' "

Read more about the Christmas tree flare-up. In 2001, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick explained what religious displays are unconstitutional.

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Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.
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