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LoungeMachine
07-20-2005, 10:12 PM
Saudi Arabia's Longtime Ambassador to the U.S. Is Resigning


By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: July 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, July 20 - Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who in 22 years as the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States operated as an insider's insider and wielded enormous influence in Washington over successive administrations, is resigning for "private reasons," Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday.


Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's long serving ambassador to Washington, above, has been replaced, a foreign ministry official said today.
Prince Bandar, 56, the son of the Saudi defense minister, is to be replaced by another royal family member, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the brother of the Saudi Foreign minister and a former Saudi intelligence chief who in that position had dealings with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in the period before Sept. 11, 2001.

According to current and former American diplomats, Prince Turki tried in the 1990's to persuade the Taliban to return Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia to stand trial for plotting against the Saudi government. The prince currently serves as the ambassador in London.

"Yes, he knew members of Al Qaeda," said an American official. "Yes, he talked to the Taliban. At times he delivered messages to us and from us regarding Osama bin Laden and others. Yes, he had links that in this day and age would be considered problematic, but at the time we used those links." The official said that Prince Turki seemed to have "gotten out of that business" since 2001 and that "he understands that times have changed."

Saudi officials declined to specify the personal reasons for Prince Bandar's decision to retire, but people close to the embassy noted that he had spent little time in Washington in recent years and had suffered from exhaustion and health problems. His absence also left the embassy leaderless at a tumultuous time in Saudi-American relations, a source of rising concern in Riyadh, the capital.

Prince Bandar's last major public appearance in the United States was in April, when he was a crucial figure in Crown Prince Abdullah's visit to Crawford, Tex., for a meeting with President Bush, with whom he had previously discussed plans for the Iraq war in its early phases, according to Robert W. Jordan, a former ambassador to the kingdom.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said of Prince Bandar that presidents "past and present" had "enjoyed his wit, charm and humor" as well as his advice. "The president bids Ambassador Bandar and his family a fond farewell and wishes them all the best on their return to the kingdom," he added.

Like Prince Bandar, Prince Turki was educated in the United States, at the Lawrenceville School and Georgetown University, but is said to be a more cautious, ascetic and intellectual figure unlikely to cut the same swath that his predecessor did, especially in establishing intimate ties with powerful Americans.

Prince Bandar courted friends for Saudi Arabia at his air-conditioned tent in the Saudi desert and in Aspen, London, the south of France and in what Mr. Jordan said was "a beach house to end all beach houses" in Jidda. But it was his closeness to the Bush family that made him a pivotal player in recent years.

Brent Scowcroft, the former national security adviser to the first President Bush, said in an interview, "I think his role was indispensable," referring to planning for the first war with Iraq in 1991. "He has an easy air and way about him, and presidents just like to have him in and talk to him."

Mr. Scowcroft said one reason for Prince Bandar's influence was his closeness to his uncle, King Fahd, who suffered a stroke in 1995. Friends of the ambassador say he never established the same closeness with Crown Prince Abdullah, who has been ruling the kingdom as regent for the last decade.

Another former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chas W. Freeman Jr., said Prince Bandar was "one of the greatest, if not the greatest diplomatic figures of the last quarter century" who cultivated close ties not only with the Bushes but also with Presidents Reagan and Carter and with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain and Mikhail Gorbachev in Russia.

Among his accomplishments, Mr. Freeman said, was his crucial role in persuading Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya to take responsibility in recent years for the downing of a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, a move that paved the way for American diplomacy that persuaded Libya to renounce its nuclear arms program last year.

"He is charismatic, charming, ingenious and relentless, with a great sense of humor and a great understanding of Americans from his time in the air force," said Mr. Freeman, referring to his time as a fighter pilot training with Americans in the Royal Saudi Air Force.

Mr. Freeman said Prince Bandar had also been "grotesquely underutilized" in recent years because of his uneasy relationship with Crown Prince Abdullah and had "been trying to get out of Washington for at least a decade" but was unable to get leaders in Riyadh focused on picking a successor.

An American official, asking not to be identified because he did not want to speculate about Saudi politics, said Prince Bandar might also be trying to jockey for an important national security position in Riyadh.

In recent years, amid mounting charges of Saudi complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks and charges that the Saudis had not been doing enough to combat terrorism, the absence of a visible ambassador in Washington has hurt the Saudi image in the United States, the official said, and stirred concerns in Riyadh that it was "not well served" in Washington.

The vacuum was filled in part by Adel al-Jubeir, an adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah and the Saudi Foreign Ministry who has appeared on television talk shows and conferred with American officials and politicians in Congress but is not a member of the royal family and thus was not a likely candidate to replace Prince Bandar.

Current and former American officials said they expected Prince Turki to become a prominent fixture in Washington and in American public forums even though he is more reticent than Prince Bandar. His contacts in the 1990's with the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not likely to do him much harm, several said.

LoungeMachine
07-20-2005, 10:17 PM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine



"Yes, he talked to the Taliban. At times he delivered messages to us and from us regarding Osama bin Laden and others. Yes, he had links that in this day and age would be considered problematic, but at the time we used those links." The official said that Prince Turki seemed to have "gotten out of that business" since 2001 and that "he understands that times have changed."



".....gotten out that business......."


Times haven't changed all that much I see :rolleyes:

FORD
07-20-2005, 11:15 PM
So is Junior going to sleep with the new guy now, and break up with Bandar?

LoungeMachine
07-20-2005, 11:17 PM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine



In recent years, amid mounting charges of Saudi complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks and charges that the Saudis had not been doing enough to combat terrorism, the absence of a visible ambassador in Washington has hurt the Saudi image in the United States, the official said, and stirred concerns in Riyadh that it was "not well served" in Washington.

.


Not well served?????????????????:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

FUCK YOU SAUDI ARABIA

FUCK YOU

The Saudi "image" isn't what they'd like??????

Boo fucking hoo:cool:

LoungeMachine
07-20-2005, 11:18 PM
Originally posted by FORD
So is Junior going to sleep with the new guy now, and break up with Bandar?

An ocassional reach around from JimmyJeff should get the Chimp by for awhile

ODShowtime
07-21-2005, 07:42 AM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who in 22 years as the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States operated as an insider's insider and wielded enormous influence in Washington over successive administrations, is resigning for "private reasons," Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday.

He resigned to spend more time with his family... The Bushes!!!

http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=prince+bandar/v=2/SID=e/l=IVI/SIG=12i38fqvm/EXP=1122032511/*-http%3A//www.buzzflash.com/premiums/graphics/houseofbush_200.jpg

Keeyth
07-21-2005, 03:41 PM
Scary stuff...

LoungeMachine
07-24-2005, 12:37 AM
Sunday, 24, July, 2005 (17, Jumada al-Thani, 1426)




Turki Aims to Bridge Gap With US
Muaffaq Al-Nuwaiser, Asharq Al-Awsat

LONDON, 24 July 2005 — The Kingdom’s nominee for ambassador to the United States said he would try to bridge a “gap” in relations and defend compatriots accused of complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Opinion polls... suggest that there is a big gap between the two peoples resulting from the events of Sept. 11, 2001,” in which 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudi, Prince Turki Al-Faisal said.

“Hence, one of my top priorities there will be to bridge this gap between the two peoples... building on Crown Prince Abdullah’s (April) visit to the United States, which was successful by all standards.”

Prince Turki, who is currently ambassador to Britain, said he would seek to defend Saudis against whom lawsuits have been filed for alleged involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, and who number around 200 individuals and institutions.

“We have to follow this up with the courts... The US judiciary, like the Saudi judiciary, is independent. If these courts closed these cases, we would have achieved what we are seeking. Otherwise, we will continue to exercise self-defense,” he said.

In May, a New York judge rejected a fresh set of lawsuits against Saudi officials and banks for alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks, citing a lack of evidence.

Judge Richard Casey threw out a consolidation of lawsuits filed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, which were brought by survivors and insurers. His action followed a January ruling throwing out several similar suits.

Turki said the Kingdom had not formally asked Britain to extradite London-based dissidents Saad Al-Faqih and Muhammad Al-Masari. A handover “has not been formally requested but consultations are ongoing between the two governments about what can be done,” he said.

Prince Turki said his main achievement during his stint in the British capital was to restore good relations between London and Riyadh, which had previously gone through “something of a chill.”

Big Train
07-24-2005, 02:46 AM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine


In May, a New York judge rejected a fresh set of lawsuits against Saudi officials and banks for alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks, citing a lack of evidence.



Like I said last week in another thread, anyone who believes in the BCE and or the Saudi thing is missing a lot of logic. It may be intuitive to think they are making a killing here in the short term. However, I don't think they were trying to, as the problems that have been caused by the attacks are creating much more longer term bigger problems for them. The long term instability the royal family faces as well as problems in their business from these attacks are way to much to think that they were in on it personally. Perhaps Bandar was, I'm not closed to that possibility, but it doesn't make sense that the royals themselves took that huge a gamble for such a little payoff.

FORD
07-24-2005, 03:55 AM
Bandar and Abdullah (both close friends of the BCE) ARE pretty much the Saudi royal family these days. King Fahd is in really poor health, and it's not likely he's in charge of much of anything these days.

Cathedral
07-24-2005, 04:08 AM
Fuck Them All!

That pretty much says it right there. :)