Bush’s BFFs in Saudi Arabia were a little puzzled by his (now inoperative) comments about Mideast oil:

Diplomatically, Mr. Bush’s ambitious call for the replacement of 75 percent of the United States’ Mideast oil imports with ethanol and other energy sources by 2025 upset Saudi Arabia, the main American oil supplier in the Persian Gulf. In an interview on Wednesday, the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said he would have to ask Mr. Bush’s office "what he exactly meant by that."

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If you know what he means.

In Washington, Prince Turki, the Saudi ambassador, said he was puzzled by Mr. Bush’s words in the speech. He said he wanted to know if reducing American dependence on foreign oil also applied to other suppliers to the United States. "Is that a declaration that the U.S. is going to work to be independent of Canadian oil, Mexican oil and Venezuelan oil?" he asked, adding, "I see no threat from America from receiving its oil from the Middle East."

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Say what you will about Saudi Arabia, but the guy’s got a point. Oil is oil.