Saudi Crown Prince Means Business (and I don't mean monkey business): "Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah has advised Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon "rapidly", a Saudi official has said." Now I do not disagree with that demand, but I wonder. Would that brave Saudi polygamous prince (not to be confused with all the other polygamous Saudi princes who are leading "reforms" according to Bush) also call on US to withdraw "rapidly" or even "slowly" from Iraq? Would he dare say that? There is evidence that there are more Iraqis who want the US out of Iraq than there are Lebanese who want Syria out. Reading the Lebanese press, you cannot but notice how much of the Lebanon's story is kept out, espcially the views of the Shi`ites who constitute at least 50 percent of the population (I heard that a US estimate puts the Shi`ite percentage higher)? The Highere Islamic Shi`ite Council issued a statement in which it rejected the consideration of UNSC 1559 as an "alternative to Ta'if accords." It described UNSC 1559 as one that "splits them, and is a project of sedition among them." The statement seems to insist on the preservation of Syrian-Lebanese relations. Shi`ites, it seems, have not joined the Hummus Revolution. Ayatollah (he officially is now Grand Ayatollah) Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah also issued a statement clearly distancing himself from the goals and slogans of the Hummus Revolution.