"Among those ousted is his cousin, the head of the national guard, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who was his only serious rival. However, among the names of those detained — some leaked, some confirmed by well-placed sources — are people with no political ambition but with huge fortunes.
The same sources refused to confirm the arrest, claimed by the news site Middle East Eye, of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, an even bigger fish. For years he was Saudi Arabia’s biggest international fixer, as ambassador to Washington.
His father, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, was defence minister for 40 years and a dominant figure in Saudi public life until he died as crown prince in 2011.
Prince Bandar was also named as a recipient of huge BAE Systems “backhanders” in a British investigation later blocked by Tony Blair, the then prime minister. He remains phenomenally wealthy." The Times of London
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Bandar was Saudi ambassador in Washington for many years. In the end he was dean of the diplomatic corps. He was American educated and trained by us as an RSAF fighter pilot. He was a major figure around DC for a long time. I visited him often at his embassy office in DC and at his mansion on Chain Bridge Road in Virginia where his ex British SAS guards in black suits treated me with respect. His father was Defense Minister of SA and his mother was an Ethiopian concubine. (jariya habashiya).
He was very good at bullshitting American officials. One of his favorite "victims" in that regard was Admiral Crowe, the chairman of the JCS. Bandar's wide ranging influence in Washington was greatly diminished when an unclassified clear voice telephone conversation between him and his father was intercepted and translated. In this chat they discussed Bandar's successful deception with regard to a shipment of Chinese arms bound for Iraq. These had been unloaded at a Saudi military port on the Red Sea. When confronted with photographs of the ship's progress across the world's oceans from China, he had told Crowe that the cargo was for Saudi use. Crowe had "bought" that. Bandar and his father laughed at Crowe's gullibility. I had previously told Crowe that Bandar was lying to him, so I enjoyed bringing this intercept to Crowe's office. He stared at his desk, handed me back the paper and told me to leave.
Bandar played a central role in orchestrating Gulf support for revolt against the Syrian Government. He was delegated this role by the assemblage of senior princes in his capacity as head of the Saudi intelligence agency.
He is undoubtedly thought a major and dangerous rival by the Salman branch of the royal tribe. pl
BTW - The photo above was widely interpreted in the Arab World as evidence of Bandar's mastery of 43.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandar_bin_Sultan_Al_Saud
rick,
Why are any of the detained still alive? I don't know if MSB and his detainers are thinking of this, but maybe they are. And maybe what they are thinking is . . . the precedent we set with our detainees now is the precedent which will guide some far future detainers decades from now if some far future detainers emerge to make us their detainees.
Like I say, I don't know if the MSBs are thinking this way. But maybe they could be.
Posted by: different clue | 14 November 2017 at 08:51 PM
"Why are any of the detained still alive?"
Insurance. Trump/Kushner have done a deal with MBS. If anything happens to MBS, the rivers of money start flowing back to Trump's enemies. These brownfella's are pretty switched on that way.
Posted by: Peter AU | 15 November 2017 at 12:01 AM
I have been continously amazed by american naiveté in the last two decades. Middle ranking military and state officers may not possess the required experience to see through the different ruses, by foes and allies alike, but high ranking even top leaders should have been prepared for twin forked tongues, false friendships and pushing thinly veiled interests, other than America's.
Of course in the later case other aspects such as self-interest, and intentional carelesness may also play a role. Maybe being the number one for so long makes everyone complacent.
Maybe the need to find an enemy who is sophisticated enough, but does not have either an established lobbying apparatus - KSA or close business ties - PRC with the USA is needed to wake those people up. Rooshans are well suited to this with Germany (EU?) coming close second.
Posted by: Balint Somkuti, PhD | 15 November 2017 at 03:59 AM
"When you play the game of thrones you either win or die." ... MBS is too young, impatient, reckless and incompetent to succeed at what he has begun and to remain in power for very long. He has made many, many new rich and powerful new enemies and likely has just written his own death warrant. The US is backing the wrong horse and will suffer the consequences when he is overthrown.
Posted by: Peter Reichard | 15 November 2017 at 05:48 AM
Colonel,
Possibly relevant re contemplated conflicts ME & Asia:
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/dubai-air-show/2017/11/14/raytheon-saudi-based-patriots-intercepted-over-100-tbms-since-2015/
Posted by: FourthAndLong | 15 November 2017 at 01:40 PM