Preceding his visit to the United States CBS rolled out the red carpet for the 32-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), in the form of a coddling interview with Norah O'Donnell.
The Saudi crown prince needs all the positive PR he can get. A rare display of congressional push-back is developing with regards to the U.S. military's opened-ended commitment to the kingdom's ongoing war in Yemen. Raytheon is seeking to sign a $1 billion deal to provide missiles to al-Saud.
Little in the CBS interview was said about the war Yemen. It was framed as a conflict with the Persian Third Reich. MBS pleaded for understanding, asking, in so many words, "What would America would do if Mexico was firing missiles at Houston and New York?" Of course, the few missiles the Houthis have managed to launch into Saudi Arabia have been in response to saturation bombing of civilian areas.
Nothing was said in the interview about the war in Syria and the kingdom's role in funding all the Salafi jihadists there.
Nothing was said about the civil suit against Saudi Arabia by families of 9/11 victims.
The interview was one soft pitch after another. MBS was even allowed to claim unchallenged that the decades-long export of extremist Wahhabism was the work of the Muslim Brotherhood!
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