State Dept. Cable Describes Saudi Halloween Party Sponsored By U.S. Firm: Hookers, Black-Market Booze, And Wealthy Muslim Hypocrites

Saudi Hypocrites Exposed In U.S. Cable

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Wikileaks made the November 11, 2009 confidential U.S. State Department cable public and The Daily Bellwether is publishing the full-text.  It exposes rampant hypocrisy in the desert kingdom.  So far, the cable has escaped wide notice and hasn't made the big newspapers like The New York Times.  The cable describes a wild party in Jeddah that had Saudis and their guests partying in Halloween costumes -- "the full range of worldly temptations and vices are available'' -- and reveling in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.  The consul general's office had an invitation and a U.S. diplomat attended.  The party was co-sponored by a Saudi prince and and unnamed American corporation that also put up cash, a U.S. firm that makes energy drinks.  All this took place in a Muslim nation that represses women and embraces a conservative theology that includes stoning and beheading. The cable calls the religious conservatism a facade among the Saudi elite.  The complete text of the cable about about Filipino bartenders, rockin' DJs, and "working girls" hired to supply sex is after the jump:

Ranking The World's 20 Worst Dictators: Bush Pals Are No. 4 and No. 8 On Top Tyrant List

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Sunday newspaper supplement doesn't venture an opinion on the identity of the world's best dictator. But you can view Parade Magazine's annual list of the globe's Top 20 tyrants right here. Two of President Bush's best buds -- Saudi King Abdullah (No. 4) and Pakistan's Pervez Musharref (No. 8) -- landed unenviable ratings on the despot scale. The king gets credit because his nation "has the most oppressed women in the world." Musharref made the dictatorship A-list because he "suspended Pakistan's constitution."

North Korea's Kim Jong-il is No. 1 and Chad's Idriss Deby is No. 20 -- which earned him a dishonorable mention. Parade said it has picked the world's worst for the past six years:

"The dictators were chosen and ranked based on their human-rights abuses, the level of suffering that their leadership has caused and the amount of absolute power they wield. Sources include the U.S. State Department, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders. Despite all of the atrocities, however, the United States continues to do business with many of the dictators' countries."

Eighteen of the dictators are in Africa and Asia. Aleksandr Lukashenka of Belarus (No. 16) is in Europe; Cuba's Raul Castro (No. 18) is in the Americas.