Serious charge: House of Saud bribes U.S. House of Reps, Senate

Prince Bandar
USA

Three decades’ entrenched influence: Saudi Prince in Washington

Editing by Carolyn Bennett

Bandar bin Sultan is Saudi Arabia’s Director General of Intelligence. He was appointed to this post on July 19, 2012 by King Abdullah. He is a member of the House of Saud and before his current position was Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States (1983 to 2005) and secretary general (2005) of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council.

Bandar, a militarist and former fighter pilot, graduated from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1968 and received additional training at Maxwell Air Force Base (U.S. Air Force installation in Alabama, USA) and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF, a U.S. Military institution). He also holds a master’s degree in International Public Policy from The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in the U.S. state of Maryland.

Saudis and
Obama government

In 1978 Prince Bandar was appointed the Saudi King’s personal envoy and he successfully lobbied the United States Congress to approve the sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia.

At the Oval Office, President Carter [U.S. President James Carter 1977-1981] told him to win the support of California governor Ronald Reagan [U.S. President 1981-1989]. He did and in exchange helped Carter win the support of South Dakota Democratic Senator James Abourezk for the Panama Canal treaty. King Fahd made Bandar an emissary to Carter and granted him permission to act independently of the Saudi-U.S. ambassador.

In 1982, King Fahd made Prince Bandar military attaché at the Saudi Embassy and the following year (October 24, 1983) appointed him Saudi Ambassador to the United States.

Saudi-Syria relations

Prince Bandar wielded extensive influence in the United States and at the 

pinnacle of his career he was both ‘the King’s exclusive messenger and the White House’s errand boy.’ In more than three decades, he was the face of the Saudi Arabia lobby and in the course of his ambassadorial work Prince Bandar had dealt with five U.S. presidents [Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush (1989-1993), William Clinton (1993-2001), George W. Bush, (2001-2009)], ten secretaries of state, eleven national security advisers, sixteen sessions of Congress, and the media.

Bandar was reportedly so close to George H. W. Bush that he was often described as a member of the former president’s family. He advocated the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in March 2003 and “encouraged military action against Iraq and supported the Dick Cheney “agenda for ‘The New Middle East’, which called for pro-democracy programs in Syria and Iran.”

Iran-Saudi relations

His current appointive position as Director General of Saudi Intelligence Agency (2012 - present), which also includes membership on the Military Service Council, is said to demonstrate Saudi Arabia’s “more aggressive foreign policy.” According to an August 2013 Wall Street Journal article Prince Bandar was appointed to lead Saudi Arabia’s efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al- Assad and that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] considered this a sign of how serious Saudi Arabia was about overthrowing Syria’ head of state.

Bandar was described as ‘jetting from covert command centers near the Syrian front lines to the Élysée Palace in Paris and the Kremlin in Moscow, seeking to undermine the Assad regime.’ 

In late 2012 Saudi intelligence, under Bandar’s direction, also began efforts to convince the U.S. that the Assad government was using chemical weapons.”

PressTV reports this week:

“Saudi Arabia bribing U.S., French lawmakers on Syria: American journalist”

Saudis and
Obama government

In an article by Dr. James H. Fetzer published on Press TV’s website on Wednesday, “Wayne Madsen” has reportedly [according to Fetzer] “learned from multiple intelligence sources in Washington, London, Beirut, and Paris that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan has paid off key members of the U.S. Senate and House [of Representatives] leadership as well as key ministers of the French government, with ‘incentive cash’ to support an American and French ‘shock and awe’ military strike on not only Syria but (also) Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.”

‘Sen. Harry Reid [D-Nevada], Sen. John McCain [R-Arizona], Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-South Carolina], Sen. Barbara Boxer [D-California] and Sen. Robert Menendez [D-New Jersey]

Saudis and
Obama government

‘House Speaker John Boehner [R-Ohio], Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi [D-California], House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers [R-Michigan], New York’s Peter King [R-New York], Minority Whip Steny Hoyer [D-Maryland] and others

‘…have seen their campaign chests grow substantially as a result of Bandar’s financial largesse, according to Madsen’s multiple sources’.

Sources and notes

Biographical brief of Bandar bin Sultan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandar_bin_Sultan

“Saudi Arabia bribing U.S., French lawmakers on Syria: American journalist: Saudi Arabian spy chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has paid to American and French lawmakers to get their support for a possible military strike against Syria, U.S. investigative journalist Wayne Madsen says,” September 12, 2013, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/12/323583/bandar-bought-support-for-syria-strike/

Wayne Madsen (born April 25, 1954) is a U.S. militarist, information specialist turned “online investigative journalist, author and columnist specializing in intelligence and international affairs,” [blogging] at the “Wayne Madsen Report”; described as a “conspiracy theorist.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Madsen

Dr. James H. Fetzer is a McKnight Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Duluth [Minnesota].

Saudi Arabia kings current

King Fahd (ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Saʿūd), king of Saudi Arabia (1982-2005); as crown prince and as an active administrator, he had been virtual ruler during the preceding reign (1975–1982) of his half brother King Khālid.

King Abdullah (ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, b. circa 1923), king of Saudi Arabia (2005-) ; as crown prince (1982–2005), he had served as the country’s de facto ruler following the 1995 stroke of his half brother King Fahd (reigned 1982–2005).

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