A CROOK WHO WOULD BE KING
Printed From: IslamiCity.org
Category: Politics
Forum Name: World Politics
Forum Description: World Politics
URL: https://www.islamicity.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9619
Printed Date: 24 November 2024 at 8:18am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: A CROOK WHO WOULD BE KING
Posted By: Sign*Reader
Subject: A CROOK WHO WOULD BE KING
Date Posted: 24 June 2007 at 9:03pm
Is this character fit to be the guardian of the holy land and the Hermain Sharif?
The Mother of All Scandals
By Eric
Margolis
06/20/07 "ich" -- -- Anyone who wants to understand what really
goes on in the Mideast should have a look at the scandal that erupted earlier
this month over the outsized character of Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.
Bandar has long been a renowned mover, shaker, and charmer. As Saudi
ambassador to the US, the influential Bandar schmoozed official Washington for
two decades. He became an intimate of the Bush family. He invested a least $60
million in Saudi funds in the Carlyle Corp., in which the Bush family has
important interests. Equally significant, Prince Bandar was a particular
favorite at the CIA, where he was long considered one of its prime Mideast
�assets.�
Bandar flew in his own personal Airbus A-340 painted in the
colors of his favorite US football team, and threw lavish parties in his $135
million Aspen house and in Washington. He was Mr. SaudiAmerica. Congress, the
media, and the rest of official Washington hailed Bandar as the kind of �good
Arab� with whom the US was happy to do business.
After leaving
Washington, Bandar returned home to become the highly influential head of
national security and chief foreign policy advisor to Saudi Arabia�s King
Abdullah. Bandar�s father, Crown Prince Sultan, is the nation�s powerful defense
minister and next in line to the throne. Many Saudi observers believed Bandar
was being positioned to sit one day on the throne of Saudi Arabia.
On top
of all this, Bandar is also a marketing genius.
The UK Guardian
newspaper and BBC recently revealed that Bandar personally received over US $2
billion in �marketing fees� from the British defense firm BAE as part of the
huge, 1985 al-Yamamah arms deal. Al-Yamamah means dove in Arabic. Charges of
massive corruption over the Al-Yamamah deal have swirled for years. But even for
the rich Saudis, $2 billion is a lot of money. That�s twice what Washington�s
most important Arab ally, Egypt, was given.
For the Saudi royals,
Britain�s outgoing PM Tony Blair, and Washington, the �dove� and Bandar�s $2
billion worth of payola have become one big albatross.
During the
1980�s, Saudi Arabia sought to buy modern US warplanes. But the US pro-Israel
lobby blocked the sale, costing the loss of billions in sales by US industry and
100,000 American jobs. The Reagan Administration advised the Saudis to go buy
their warplanes from Britain.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was only
too happy have the British defense firm, known today as BAE, sell the Saudis 120
Tornado strike aircraft, Hawk trainers, military equipment, and lucrative
training and maintenance programs worth some $90�100 billion and the 100,000
jobs America lost. Over their operational lives of 20 or so years, warplanes
consume six times their original cost in spare parts. These supply contract also
went to BAE and other British industrial firms.
The Saudis could barely
operate the modern military equipment they bought from the US, Britain, and
France. Their military forces were a big zero. Most of it stayed in storage, or
was operated by foreign mercenaries. The Saudi arms deals were really about
buying military protection from the western powers.
All arms sales to
the west�s Mideast clients routinely include 10�15% �commissions� to heads of
state, generals, and their cronies. These funds are traditionally channeled
through middlemen, the flamboyant Adnan Kashoggi being the most notorious.
Kickbacks, rechristened �marketing fees,� were of course expected in the
Al-Yamamah deal. But Bandar�s $2 billion set a record for size and venality.
Thatcher ordered Bandar�s payments carefully hidden from public gaze. They
remained so until recent years when British and American government
investigators began questioning secret, multi-million dollar payments to Prince
Bandar routed from the UK to the shady Riggs Bank in Washington. Before it was
shut down after a series of scandals, Riggs had become one of the favorite
handlers of �black� money for pro-US autocratic regimes.
When Britain�s
Serious Fraud Office began probing BAE�s secret payoffs to Bandar, Tony Blair
sanctimoniously ordered the investigation shut down for �national security�
reasons. The Saudis threatened to cancel their arms deals with Britain if payoff
charges were made public by HM�s government. Blair was trying to sell the Saudis
BAE�s new, high-tech Eurofighter. He blocked similar investigations by OECD, the
international anti-bribery watchdog agency which was also closing in on the
Saudi money trail.
Bandar denies any wrongdoing, claiming the �marketing�
funds all went into a legitimate Defense Ministry account and were properly
accounted for and audited.
Few believe him. The only �marketing� effort
in the arms deal was payola to high Saudi officials. If the funds were legit,
why all the secrecy and money laundering? Were the payments simply western
�baksheesh� for Bandar and his clan? Were they to help him against his main
power rival, Prince Turki Faisal, who is not seen as amenable to US and British
interests as Bandar?
Could the billions have been used for covert
operations, possibly with US participation? One recalls the Reagan years when
money from Israel�s secret sales of US arms to Iran were used to finance the
Nicaraguan Contras.
The most significant effect of this revolting
scandal is being felt in the Muslim world. One of the major reasons for the
fast-spreading influence of militant Islamic groups like Hezbullah, Hamas, and
Taliban has been their success in uprooting the Muslim world�s endemic
corruption and nepotism. We are so used to Islamists being demonized as
�terrorists� that their highly effective and popular social accomplishments are
rarely noted. In fact, their appeal and popularity is based primarily on their
welfare and incorruptibility.
Islamic militants insist the west exploits
their nations by keeping deeply corrupt regimes in power. In exchange for
protection from their own people and neighbors, and fabulous wealth, these
authoritarian Arab regimes � always termed �moderates� by western media � sell
oil on the cheap to the west and do its bidding. US-installed governments in
Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan are all noted for egregious
corruption, including secret payoffs from Washington to their leaders.
No
wonder Prince Bandar was always so amiable and accommodating. Or that he managed
to fly out a planeload of Saudis the day after 9/11 when all US flights were
grounded. Or that the Bush administration was trying to position the always
amenable prince as the next Saudi monarch.
The Bandar scandal is hugely
embarrassing for Blair and Bush, who claim to be leading a crusade to bring
democracy and good government to the benighted Muslim world. It starkly confirms
Islamists� accusations that the west promotes corruption. And it dramatically
exposes the dirty underbelly of the west�s much-vaunted �special relationship�
with the Saudi royal family.
-------------
Kismet Domino: Faith/Courage/Liberty/Abundance/Selfishness/Immorality/Apathy/Bondage or extinction.
|
Replies:
Posted By: Whisper
Date Posted: 27 July 2007 at 7:19pm
|
The Bandar scandal is hugely embarrassing for Blair and Bush, who claim to be leading a crusade to bring democracy and good government to the benighted Muslim world. It starkly confirms Islamists� accusations that the west promotes corruption. And it dramatically exposes the dirty underbelly of the west�s much-vaunted �special relationship� with the Saudi royal family.
Brother, who is interesting in good governance? It's not as interesting as �o��y coming in.
Please don't tell our Syed123 that I told you! His country is just interested in plunder, a bit of loots and a whole range of shoots.
-------------
Sasha Khanzadeh
|
|