New York Times Picks Saudi Prince As a Liberal Reformer. There's Just One Problem...

With its usual deftness in choosing op-ed contributors, the New York Times has given its readers, “A Saudi Prince’s Plea for Reform by AlWaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.

He is held up, thusly, to all New York Times readers as a noble democratic reformer, the kind of person we would like to overthrow dictatorships and take over countries, right?

The Times does not, of course, remind its readers that this is the very prince who offered to pay New York City a lot of money to help it rebuild after the September 11 attacks. Oh, there was one condition put on the aid by this democratic hero of a prince:  Mayor Rudy Giuliani had to condemn Israel in order to get the cash.

Now there's a guy who understands democracy, right?

PS: I thought about making a joke in which the prince offers to let the Times publish his oped only if it bashed Israel first but then I realized...(you finish the sentence).