December 18, 2010
Dear All;
This is part III; a book review done in 2008.
Regards,
Hamid
Book Review
Hamid Hussain
William Simpson. The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal Prince Bandar Bin Sultan (New York: Harper-Collins), 2006, 480 pages.
William Simpson's book about the life of former Saudi ambassador to United States Prince Bandar bin Sultan is an exciting narrative penned by a friend of Bandar who was given access to many key players. The narrative describes Bandar's role in several areas spanning over two decades. There is no doubt that Prince Bandar was the most influential ambassador in Washington. Only Bandar could smoke a cigar with President George W. Bush on the Truman balcony of White House only 48 hours after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bandar not only worked on bilateral Saudi-U.S. relations but was actively involved in ending Lebanese civil war, helped in bringing Israeli and Palestinians on the negotiating table and was a key liaison during 1991 Gulf war and 2003 Iraq invasion. In First Gulf war, in Brent Scowcroft's words, Bandar was 'a de facto member of National Security Council'. Bandar's help was also crucial on some purely American projects such as Panama Canal Treaty, Iran-Contra scandal and using $10 million and Pope's help to prevent Communists from winning 1983 Italian elections.
Simpson's book gives an interesting insight into symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationships between politicians and business interests. In 1978, Saudi Arabia embarked on acquisition of F-15 fighters from United States and Prince Bandar was assigned the task to secure the deal. President Jimmy Carter and House Speaker Tip O'Neill gave advice to Bandar about domestic American field to secure support not only from political but also business executives. Major corporations including Northrop, McDonnell Douglas, Mobil, Bechtel, Fluor Corporation and Computer Science Corporation were at the forefront to support Bandar's efforts. David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan bank had promised Bandar that he will try to persuade few senators to vote for the deal but was lukewarm in his efforts. Most of Saudi money was in Chase Manhattan. Bandar called Riyadh asking them to transfer $200 million from Chase Manhattan to J. P. Morgan. A panicked Rockefeller landed in Washington and after hectically working for three days, delivered not the quota of promised senators but added two more as bonus. After the task was accomplished, money was promptly transferred back to Chase Manhattan. Three years later, same political and corporate friends helped in securing AWACs deal for Saudi Arabia despite strong opposition from pro-Israel lobby.
Prince Bandar is a member of Royal family and still is a bridge between Saudi Arabia and western world. After serving in Washington for over two decades, he went back home to become Secretary General of newly created National Security Council. In this capacity, he was operating behind the scene in continued interaction with Washington bypassing Saudi embassy. The new Saudi ambassador was no commoner but another member of the big boys club, Prince Turki al-Faisal. Turki was head of Saudi General Intelligence Directorate, Mukhabarat for over two decades and after a brief stint in London was sent to Washington. Turki didn't like to be sidelined and was later recalled. It is very difficult to accommodate two royal egos despite the fact that Turki's sister Haifa is Bandar's wife.
A proper perspective of Saudi Arabia must take into consideration the role of royal family. Currently, 23 sons of the country's founder Abdul Aziz are alive. These sons and their progeny control different segments of the society. In many Arab countries, army officers have overthrown their governments and this lesson is not lost on Saudi Royal family. Fearing a coup from a robust and professional armed force, a countervailing force for internal security was considered essential. Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) was formed with this objective. SANG recruits are primarily from the tribes and head of SANG is usually a major stake holder. King Abdullah has been in charge of this important power center since 1962. Abdullah's son Mitib is Assistant Commander of SANG for military affairs. Abdullah's inner circle includes several of his half brothers and he needs to keep a careful balance between family's various power centers.
The most important power center in the country is six brothers from Abdul Aziz's favorite wife Hassa bint Ahmad al-Sudairi. Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz is Minister of Defense and Aviation. His sons hold some key positions in different sectors. The most famous son is Bandar who after serving as ambassador to Washington for over two decades is now Secretary General of National Security Council. Khalid is Assistant Minister of Defense, Faisal is Deputy Minister in Planning Ministry, Turki is Deputy Minister in Information Ministry and Fahd is Governor of Tabuk. Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Aziz is close to his brother Sultan and has been his Deputy Minister of Defense for a long time. Nayef bin Abdul Aziz is Minister of Interior. His son Muhammad is Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs. Nayef's brother Ahmad is Vice Minister of interior and Ahmad's son Nayef holds a key position in army's Special Forces branch. His other son Saud is ambassador to Spain. Salman bin Abdul Aziz is Governor of Riyadh province and his influence is in business and media. Salman's half brother Sattam bin Abdul Aziz is his deputy. Salman's sons control different business and media interests. Abdul Aziz is Deputy Minister of Oil, Faisal owns Sharq-al-Awst newspaper, Sultan is head of tourism commission and Fahd is a businessman. Another powerful group is three sons of late King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz. Saud has been serving as country's Foreign Minister for over three decades. Turki served as head of Mukhabarat for over two decades and later ambassador to London and Washington. Third brother Khalid is governor of Asir province.
To balance the power of Sudairi six and Faisal's, Abdullah has developed close working relations with several other half brothers. Badr, Abdul-Illah and Abdul Majid (The mother of these three, Haya bint Saad was also from powerful Sudairi tribe) is another group. Badr is assistant to Deputy Commander of SANG Turki bin Abdul Aziz; Abdul-Illah is governor of al-Jauf while Abdul Majid is governor of Jizan. Bandar bin Abdul Aziz is Deputy Commander of SANG and Mitib bin Abdul Aziz is commander of National Guard Military College. Abdullah also appointed his half-brother Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz as head of Mukhabaraat (he stepped down after a short stint due to health reasons and was replaced by another half brother Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz). Nawaf's son Muhammad was appointed kingdom's ambassador to London (he had earlier served as ambassador to Italy) in December 2005. This is the complex web of relations through which the state has to run its affairs and Bandar is one of the wheels.
Saudi Arabia and Prince Bandar's are far from being lackeys of United States. They have pursued their national interests and skillfully used their money and inside connections to secure what they thought best for them. Those who come in contact personally with royal family members come to know the sterling human qualities of that region. They are polite, extremely generous and value human relations. Royal family is not boisterous and they like to work on the sides and not in limelight. They don't like to be pushed around and there is a certain amount of pride which they don't sacrifice at the altar of immediate gains. In 1985, when Saudi request of additional F-15s was rejected, Prince Bandar told McDonnell Douglas executives that, 'we don't like to spend billions of dollars and get insulted in the process'. Similarly, when Saudi Arabia was negotiating with China to buy long range missiles, Chinese insisted that Kingdom break relations with Taiwan. Kingdom had no specific relationship with Taiwan but they refused to budge. Bandar told his Chinese counterpart that 'If we sold our friends cheaply, why would you want to be our friends'. Royal family works through a complex web of internal, regional and international minefields and they are fully aware of the dangers. One of Bandar's famous quote is, 'in a western democracy, you lose touch with your people, you lose elections; in a monarchy, you lose your head'.
Hamid Hussain
New York
September 12, 2008
The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Vol 22; No. 1 & 2, 2008
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