Navigate to News section

Cut Off the Head of the Snake!

The Saudi king’s awesome phrase for Iran

by
Marc Tracy
November 30, 2010
Saudi King Abdullah.(Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images)
Saudi King Abdullah.(Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images)

Largely lost amid the weekend’s WikiLeaks revelations was the sheer drama behind some of them. For example: Saudi King Abdullah did not merely repeatedly tell the United States that it should militarily attack Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. No: He said the United States “should cut off the head of the snake.” (“The King was particularly adamant on this point.”)

Cut off the head of the snake. Oh hell yeah.

Over various email chains—I am told that Tablet Magazine contributor Judith Miller first seized upon the phrase—”cut off the head of the snake” became Cut Off The Head of the Snake (what a band name!) became COTHS and became, in my hands, #COTHS.

And so, to ask the same question we asked on Twitter (you don’t follow us on Twitter? for shame): What would you #COTHS?

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.