America's most dubious partners in the war on terror

BESTIES George W. Bush holding hands with America's best frenemy, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, as they stroll the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas

As the Bush administration desperately seeks some semblance of stability in Iraq, it has taken to arming and equipping militias that U.S. forces formerly faced on the battlefield. In pursuing these partnerships, the administration carries on the unnerving but sometimes necessary American tradition of counting on frenemies to help us get through tough times.

The gold standard in recent history for an ally that undermines us as it assists was undoubtedly the mujahideen, who received billions in U.S. military aid and had their fury against the Soviet Union stoked with the help of militant Islamic propaganda happily supplied by the United States. For a while, this partnership forged by U.S. officials was nothing but sunshine and lollipops, effectively chasing the bear back over the mountain in Afghanistan while inspiring Rambo III, a good chunk of Spies Like Us, and a classic MacGyver episode here at home.

But we learned the hard way how encouraging religious militancy can come with devastating side effects. Though we are now more sensitive to such perils, the massive weapons sale proposed last month underscores how partnerships with those sowing the seeds of our destruction are hardly a thing of the past. Of Radar's review of five top frenemies in the fight against terrorism (which excludes the countries we've invaded), four will benefit from the $63 billion weapons package proposed by the administration; the other has already received more than $10 billion in U.S. assistance since the 9/11 attacks.

As for our future, aspiring presidents are staking out a variety of positions. Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama arguably called for deepening the frenemy roster by bringing some of the world's leading terror sponsors into the fold, but then suggested that he might invade a country that the Bush administration calls our "most indispensable ally" in fighting terrorism. Republican candidate Ron Paul has rocketed to Internet superstardom thanks in part to a distinctive foreign policy platform that rejects our dysfunctional entanglements straightaway, arguing that "too often we have supported those who turn on us." Scanning the wreckage of our many sordid pairings after the 9/11 attacks, Paul asked, "Will this foolishness ever end?"

Will it? Should it? Who are our international underminers? Radar takes a look at some of our top frenemies in the fight against terror.

SAUDI ARABIA:

IN SULTAN One of Bush's frequent meetings with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then the Saudi Arabian ambassador, in Crawford, Texas

Referring to the cozy alliance between his kingdom and the United States, Saudi Prince Bandar alleged, "If you knew what we were really doing for America...you would give us nuclear weapons." Despite his exaggeration, Bandar's claim actually speaks to a certain truth about the relationship kick-started by FDR and King Abdul Aziz during World War II. By filling U.S. gas tanks and countering Soviet expansion with commie-hating freedom fighters, Saudi Arabia played the role of critically important sidekick in America's Cannonball Run to superpower status in the second half of the 20th century.

But cracks that spread through the relationship after the Soviet collapse erupted into gruesome fractures with September 11 and the Iraq war. The awkward hand-holding between President Bush and King Abdullah is but one of the many indignities now endured by U.S. officials trying to stay in the good graces of the militant theocracy that holds the health of the American economy in its hands.

More troubling examples can be found with the paralysis of U.S. officials who know that the commission the Saudis "created" in 2004 to prevent charitable funds from supporting terrorism doesn't actually exist, and that prominent accused Al Qaeda financiers are very likely living freely in Saudi Arabia (with the curious exception of the Saudi official who was found dead shortly after reports of his post-9/11 assistance to Bin Laden surfaced). And though the Saudis assure us that the 9/11 attacks have indeed unified the two countries against a shared Al Qaeda threat, King Abdullah nurses conspiracy theories about who was behind the 9/11 attacks (or at least he seemed to in a meeting attended by the author in 2005) while forging closer ties with less judgmental allies such as China.

U.S. officials have recently offered a little tough talk about the Saudis' failure to adopt U.S. objectives in Iraq as their own, though they do so while gifting them with a $20 billion arms package. As the global competition for Saudi crude intensifies, it's a good bet that the U.S. government will continue tolerating dangerous discomfitures for many years to come.