Said the Prince to the King, ‘Facts Are Stubborn Things’ : Diplomacy: Saudi Arabia asks the Jordanian monarch to examine his nation’s past actions before hurling criticism at his Arab neighbor.

You say, Your Majesty, that the Holy places in Saudi Arabia have been desecrated by friendly forces and those forces must leave immediately. But those forces are actually hundreds of miles away and with tens of thousand Muslim and Arab forces (of which your forces are not among them) between those friendly forces and the holy places. And all those forces are dedicated to helping defend Saudi Arabia and are respectful of its custodianship of the holy places, and will not leave until your friend Saddam Hussein leaves Kuwait, which we hope will be peacefully and immediately.

Tell us, Your Majesty, what you have done to safeguard the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that you lost to the Israelis in 1967. Is that the kind of protection that you want us to give to the holy places in Saudi Arabia?

Your Majesty, the holy places in Saudi Arabia are protected only by your brother Muslims, and no non-Muslim is anywhere around, as millions of Muslims can daily attest. And you know that to be a fact.

And, Your Majesty, you claimed to defend the Palestinian people’s right to self determination and a state of their own. And I support you in that.

But you were responsible for the Palestinian homeland on the West Bank from 1948 to 1967.

Why in all that period did you not give them their rights and statehood? And how would the occupation of Kuwait give our brother Palestinians their homeland?

Facts are stubborn things.

You talk of “haves” and “have-nots.” Saudi Arabia’s record as one of the “haves” is clear in helping the “have-nots,” and we are proud of it.

Just turn to the records of your finance minister, and see how much has been given to you and your country for many years by Saudi Arabia, willingly and happily as brothers.

Are not facts stubborn things?

When you needed Saudi troops to help you, they came and spent 10 years in your country at your asking. And we did not question why or why not, nor raise ifs, ands or buts, as you do now.

Facts are stubborn things.

You are a very intelligent man, Your Majesty. And you have a fine memory.

You say the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border is disputed and based on a historical record created by colonial British.

Your Majesty, you should be the last one to say that. Not only all your borders, but your whole country was created by the colonial British.

Facts are stubborn things indeed, Your Majesty.

And do you remember when the British troops were invited by you into your country in 1958? We did not object or question your motives and judgment over that.

Facts are stubborn things.

You tell us that the situation today is like 1924 when the world was going to a war it did not want but could not stop, which led to World War I.

That is not true. Your Majesty, we are today like the 1930s, when a madman decided to annex his neighbor and the world did nothing, which led to World War II.

These are facts. Facts are stubborn things.