Rick, in his Observer column:

Defenders of the administration would say that Mr. Bush understands the Saudi problem and knows what he is doing. He is pursuing a hidden-hand strategy, asking for cooperation while quietly cutting our old links to Saudi Arabia, removing our bases and looking for oil in other parts of the world, such as West Africa. If, while doing so, he has to keep an incomplete investigation under wraps, so be it.
Isn’t it possible, though, that the administration and its critics can work on parallel lines? Even if Mr. Bush is as discreet as the Godfather and as relentless as Inspector Javert, it is good to have a noisy and impatient claque reminding us, and the Saudis, what the score is. Congress can be the bad cop; Mr. Bush can be the cop whose goodness or badness the crooks must guess at.