OUR FRIENDS THE SAUDIS. Tonight's "things that make you say D'Oh!" Saudis reportedly funding Iraqi Sunnis.

Saudi Arabia is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. The Iraq Study Group report noted that its government has assisted the U.S. military with intelligence on Iraq.

But Saudi citizens have close tribal ties with Sunni Arabs in Iraq, and sympathize with their brethren in what they see as a fight for political control - and survival - with Iraq's Shiites.

The Saudi government is determined to curb the growing influence of its chief rival in the region, Iran. Tehran is closely linked to Shiite parties that dominate the Iraqi government.

Saudi officials say the kingdom has worked with all sides to reconcile Iraq's warring factions. They have, they point out, held talks in Saudi Arabia with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia is accused of killing Sunnis.

I'll leave the analysis to military analysts and specialists in international relations. Does the carnal definition of "international relations" refer here to Sunni and Shia governments conducting multiple proxy wars on Iraqi soil with U.S. troops attempting to keep some of the proxies apart?