Bush, Stop Begging the Saudis

Whichever adviser sent President Bush to plead with the Saudi king to help bring down oil prices should be canned, the Wall Street Journal opines. Bush had the same request turned down during a visit in January, and the rebuff is even more humiliating the second time around. If Bush wants to go begging, he'd be better off turning to Fed chief Ben Bernanke, "creator of our current commodity-price spike."

The Journal also takes issue with the notion that the US is helping the Saudis develop civilian nuclear reactors—"to provide for their energy needs." While that may help the nation export more oil in the long run, "we await the explanation for why the world needs another politically unstable Islamic theocracy in possession of radioactive fuel rods." (More Saudi Arabia stories.)