What is new is State's resolve to draw the only possible policy conclusion from its own findings of fact. My sources in and out of government all confirm that the Saudi designation is not the result of any particular Saudi action or American epiphany, but rather the product of the cumulative weight of stubborn facts. These include the fact that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudis; growing revelations of massive private and public Saudi funding of extremist groups and institutions worldwide (e.g., Pakistani madrassas); and continuing evidence of Saudi interference in American religious life, leading to the expulsion of some 70 Saudi nationals for abuse of diplomatic status since 9/11.

Designating Saudi Arabia as a country of particular concern marks "a sea change," notes Rep. Tom Lantos (D., Calif.), ranking member of the House International Relations Committee and co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. "For years there was an unspoken attitude that...friends like the British, the French, and the Germans could be criticized, but Saudi Arabia was beyond criticism," he says. "This is just a straw in the wind that Saudi Arabia will be treated just like any other country."

Just so.

Whatever the formal U.S. response taken under IRFA, business as usual with the Saudis is no longer acceptable.