In 1975 Saudi king Faisal bin Abdulaziz al Saud pledged to finance the construction of the mosque himself.

"If he calls the Saudi king and keeps him from firing on the C-17," Hanley said, "we're out of this clean."

After the Baath party came to power in 1963, he was imprisoned and later exiled, serving as an adviser to several Saudi kings.

Little wonder that the deaths of Saudi kings have been tinged with some uncertainty.

I would humbly suggest the Saudi king make four stops.

The first Saudi king to assume the title was Fahd bin Abdul Aziz in 1986.

Stress his connection to the Saudi king and he'll get first-class treatment.

It was, in part, the missionary doctors' reputation for altruism that persuaded the Saudi king to offer his oil patch not to British, but to American prospectors.

(He never moved in to avoid the political repercussions of a Saudi king imitating an American president.)

The organization urgently appealed to the Saudi king to stop the torture and brought the plight of the victims to international attention.