The money we spent fighting the communists was worth it. We're still free, and the Soviet Union is gone as a single entity. There are still plenty of problems of this kind out there, many home-grown. And communism is not by far the only collectivist threat we have to deal with.

I agree with you that a lot of people in our government are kissing up to the Saudis a lot closer than I would like. The Saudi presence and influence in the halls of power is almost more like some weird "high society" kind of thing than a political one, on the order of "how could anyone possibly think a member of our exclusive club would do something nasty?" The blind eye of many to Saudi influence on terrorism sure seems to run a lot deeper than simple economics, or worries about our oil supplies.