WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE ...

Who needs enemies when supposed friends such as Saudi Arabia casts aspersions on U.S. motives in Iraq.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to Britain and Ireland, told an Irish newspaper:

"No matter how exalted the aims of the U.S. in that war, in the final analysis it was a colonial war very similar to the wars conducted by the ex-colonial powers when they went out to conquer the rest of the world. Either in the name of Christianity, or bringing civilization to undeveloped countries, or bringing the rule of law to uncivilized populations."

No word on whether any of al-Faisal's relatives were among the Saudis who receives special treatment from the Bush administration in the days following Sept. 11 and escorted back to the safety of their home country.