You have to hand it to Saudi Prince Alwaleed. Not only does he spread his money around, but he's also got some serious chutzpah.

When last we looked, the 13th richest man in the world gave $20 million each to Georgetown and Harvard for the study of Islam. Since then, he's given £16 million to Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities, also to promote Islam. And then there's his recent purchase of a large stake in Citigroup, a deal with News Corp to bring Fox to the Middle East, and an arrangement with Bill Gates to take the Four Seasons Hotels private.

Proud but apparently feeling under-recognized, the prince has now decided to award himself a medal. As noted by the invaluable Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, recent full-page ads in American newspapers proudly announced "Alwaleed bin Talal Humanitarian Foundation, representing Kingdom Foundation, awarded the Pontifical Medal by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican."

The idea of the Pope awarding a Wahhabi prince a Catholic honor was fishy to say the least. But as Saudis are never, ever newsworthy and Catholics don't hold much interest from the MSM, the New York Times, Boston Globe and CNN let it pass. But the story as revealed by Shea in the Weekly Standard speaks volumes about the burning desire for Alwaleed and the Saudi to portray themselves as interfaith heroes.

It turns out that the "Pontifical Medal" was a Vatican souvenir given to Alwaleed's aunt during a Vatican photo-op. Everyone granted an audience with the Pope gets one.

But the full-page ads placed in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the London Times by the prince's flaks stated that the medal was being awarded to the prince's foundation "in recognition of her distinguished social and humanitarian work."

The prince and the Saudis really do need to improve their American PR. No one has forgotten that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, or that it is Saudi investors (along with Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds) who are buying up American assets, or that it now costs close to $60 for a fill up.

Americans are less clear about just how much Saudis invest to spread their version of Islam around the world (answer, tens of billions), but most know that religious tolerance is not a Saudi trait. If we were serious about Saudi Arabia and the threat it poses we would be serious about energy independence, about monitoring what Saudi actually buys when it funds mosques in Boston, and courses at Harvard and Georgetown.

And we would realize that Saudi Arabia is not an ally, it is a business associate, in the Mafia sense. We don't do business with the Gotti family, because we know we'll get abused.
Yet the 3,000 Saudi 'princes' have taken us for more money that any other form of organized crime in the history of the world. I'll bet the Pope would give a real medal to the guy or gal who cracks the code on alternative energy.