Saudi's Prince Bandar bin-Sultan is
resigning his post
as Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the US after over 20 years of
service. That's it for you, Media,
no more
hand-holding pictures! (Yes, I know that was Prince Abdullah,
not
Prince Bandar) Ignoring that "Bandar Bush" sounds
suspiciously like a
cartoon elephant, the Saudi's have decided to put Princeton, Cambridge, and Georgetown educated
Prince Turki al-Faisal -
former Saudi chief intelligence officer (aka "top spy") in the 1980s, former
Ambassador to the UK, son of the former King, and brother of
Prince Saud - in the US as the Ambassador replacing Bandar, who is the
son of Saudi's Defense Minister. Lots of neat connections
there.
Seems like in the wake of 9/11 we're getting hints that
the US wants stronger intelligence ties (or at least the impression of)
with the oil-rich, terrorist-rich Kingdom. Maybe we can get Osama
Bin Laden's son out of Iran, make him a Pakistani citizen and replace their Ambassador to the US,
Maleeha Lodi (Yes, that link's to an interview with Oprah.)
Al-Jazeera
doesn't have much commentary on the implications of the chief spymaster
being put in Washington, but let me throw in a quote for you to chew on
while you don your red white and blue dishdasha:
Turki, 60, met several times with Osama bin Laden in the
context of Saudi support for Muslim fighters in Afghanistan in
the 1980s. He later mediated between the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan and the Saudi government. [Bloomberg]
One can only hope that this appointment will, at the very least, cause
Michael Moore to, once and for all, get even more red faced and explode.