RUTHFULLY YOURS

The State Department wants to plunk down $400,000 in taxpayer money for a camel sculpture at the new U.S. Embassy being built in Islamabad, Pakistan, according to a report Monday.

“Camel Contemplating Needle,” created by American artist John Baldessari, depicts a 500-pound white camel made of fiberglass staring at the eye of an oversized needle, Buzzfeedfirst reported.

Officials explained the decision to purchase the sculpture in a four-page document justifying a “sole source” procurement.

“This artist’s product is uniquely qualified,” the document states. “Public art which will be presented in the new embassy should reflect the values of a predominantly Islamist country.”

State Department press spokeswoman Christine Foushee told Buzzfeed that the proposed purchase comes from the department’s “Office of Art in Embassies.”

The title “Camel Contemplating Needle” would suggest that the reference here is Christian, rather than Muslim. But hey it’s a camel. Pakistan is a Muslim country and Muslims are not fond of realistic depictions of living things. But who cares about the details. Let’s have another three cups of tea.

Meanwhile US Marines in Afghanistan are being denied hot meals. So that diplomats can buy themselves a camel statue to impress Pakistanis.

“This boils my skin. One of my entire shifts will go 6.5 hours without a meal. If we need to cut back on money I could come up with 100 other places,” one Leatherneck-based Marine wrote in an email this week to his wife.

If the Marx Brothers had made a movie about Obama’s misrule, it would have been considered too fantastic to be real.