Psychological warfare will lead to the war. Israel wants Saudis to fight for her in Iran, Pakistan and Yemen, but Iran targets Israel interests

Israel: A Suicidal, Apartheid State

Israel: A Suicidal, Apartheid State

by John Mearsheimer,
Tue, 29 Jun 2010

Israel's botched raid against the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla on May 31 is the latest sign that Israel is on a disastrous course that it seems incapable of reversing. The attack also highlights the extent to which Israel has become a strategic liability for the United States. This situation is likely to get worse over time, which will cause major problems for Americans who have a deep attachment to the Jewish state.

The bungled assault on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the flotilla, shows once again that Israel is addicted to using military force yet unable to do so effectively. One would think that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would improve over time from all the practice. Instead, it has become the gang that cannot shoot straight.

The IDF last scored a clear-cut victory in the Six Day War in 1967; the record since then is a litany of unsuccessful campaigns. The War of Attrition (1969-70) was at best a draw, and Israel fell victim to one of the great surprise attacks in military history in the October War of 1973. In 1982, the IDF invaded Lebanon and ended up in a protracted and bloody fight with Hezbollah. Eighteen years later, Israel conceded defeat and pulled out of the Lebanese quagmire. Israel tried to quell the First Intifada by force in the late 1980s, with Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin telling his troops to break the bones of the Palestinian demonstrators. But that strategy failed and Israel was forced to join the Oslo Peace Process instead, which was another failed endeavor.

The IDF has not become more competent in recent years. By almost all accounts - including the Israeli government's own commission of inquiry - it performed abysmally in the 2006 Lebanon war. The IDF then launched a new campaign against the people of Gaza in December 2008, in part to "restore Israel's deterrence" but also to weaken or topple Hamas. Although the mighty IDF was free to pummel Gaza at will, Hamas survived and Israel was widely condemned for the destruction and killing it wrought on Gaza's civilian population. Indeed, the Goldstone Report, written under UN auspices, accused Israel of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Earlier this year, the Mossad murdered a Hamas leader in Dubai, but the assassins were seen on multiple security cameras and were found to have used forged passports from Australia and a handful of European countries. The result was an embarrassing diplomatic row, with Australia, Ireland, and Britain each expelling an Israeli diplomat.

Given this history, it is not surprising that the IDF mishandled the operation against the Gaza flotilla, despite having weeks to plan it. The assault forces that landed on the Mavi Marmara were unprepared for serious resistance and responded by shooting nine activists, some at point-blank range. None of the activists had their own guns. The bloody operation was condemned around the world - except in the United States, of course. Even within Israel, the IDF was roundly criticized for this latest failure.

These ill-conceived operations have harmful consequences for Israel. Failures leave adversaries intact and make Israeli leaders worry that their deterrent reputation is being undermined. To rectify that, the IDF is turned loose again, but the result is usually another misadventure, which gives Israel new incentives to do it again, and so on. This spiral logic, coupled with Israel's intoxication with military force, helps explain why the Israeli press routinely carries articles predicting where Israel's next war will be.

Israel's recent debacles have also damaged its international reputation. Respondents to a 2010 worldwide opinion poll done for the BBC said that Israel, Iran, and Pakistan had the most negative influence in the world; even North Korea ranked better. More worrying for Israel is that its once close strategic relationship with Turkey has been badly damaged by the 2008-09 Gaza war and especially by the assault on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship filled with Turkish nationals. But surely the most troubling development for Israel is the growing chorus of voices in the United States who say that Israel's behavior is threatening American interests around the world, to include endangering its soldiers. If that sentiment grows, it could seriously harm Israel's relationship with the United States.

Life as an Apartheid State

The flotilla tragedy highlights another way in which Israel is in deep trouble. Israel's response makes it obvious that its leaders are not interested in allowing the Palestinians to have a viable state in Gaza and the West Bank, but instead are bent on creating a "Greater Israel" in which the Palestinians are confined to a handful of impoverished enclaves.

Israel insists that its blockade is solely intended to keep weapons out of Gaza. Hardly anyone would criticize Israel if this were true, but it is not. The real aim of the blockade is to punish the people of Gaza for supporting Hamas and resisting Israel's efforts to maintain Gaza as a giant open-air prison. Of course, there was much evidence that this was the case before the debacle on the Mavi Marmara. When the blockade began in 2006, Dov Weisglass, a close aide to Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, said, "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." And the Gaza onslaught 18 months ago was designed to punish the Gazans, not enforce a weapons embargo. The ships in the flotilla were transporting humanitarian aid, not weapons for Hamas, and Israel's willingness to use deadly force to prevent a humanitarian aid convoy from reaching Gaza makes it abundantly clear that Israel wants to humiliate and subdue the Palestinians, not live side-by-side with them in separate states.

Collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza is unlikely to end anytime soon. Israel's leaders have shown little interest in lifting the blockade or negotiating sincerely. The sad truth is that Israel has been brutalizing the Palestinians for so long that it is almost impossible to break the habit. It is hardly surprising that Jimmy Carter said last year, "the citizens of Palestine are treated more like animals than human beings." They are, and they will be for the foreseeable future.

Consequently, there is not going to be a two-state solution. Instead, Gaza and the West Bank will become part of a Greater Israel, which will be an apartheid state bearing a marked resemblance to white-ruled South Africa. Israelis and their American supporters invariably bristle at this comparison, but that is their future if they create a Greater Israel while denying full political rights to an Arab population that will soon outnumber the Jewish population in the entirety of the land. In fact, two former Israeli prime ministers - Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak - have made this very point. Olmert went so far as to argue, "as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished."

He's right, because Israel will not be able to maintain itself as an apartheid state. Like racist South Africa, it will eventually evolve into a democratic bi-national state whose politics will be dominated by the more numerous Palestinians. But that process will take many years, and during that time, Israel will continue to oppress the Palestinians. Its actions will be seen and condemned by growing numbers of people and more and more governments around the world. Israel is unwittingly destroying its own future as a Jewish state, and doing so with tacit U.S. support.

America's Albatross

The combination of Israel's strategic incompetence and its gradual transformation into an apartheid state creates significant problems for the United States. There is growing recognition in both countries that their interests are diverging; indeed this perspective is even garnering attention inside the American Jewish community. Jewish Week, for example, recently published an article entitled "The Gaza Blockade: What Do You Do When U.S. and Israeli Interests Aren't in Synch?" Leaders in both countries are now saying that Israeli policy toward the Palestinians is undermining U.S. security. Vice President Biden and Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, both made this point recently, and the head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, told the Knesset in June, "Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden."

It is easy to see why. Because the United States gives Israel so much support and U.S. politicians routinely laud the "special relationship" in the most lavish terms, people around the globe naturally associate the United States with Israel's actions. Unfortunately, this makes huge numbers of people in the Arab and Islamic world furious with the United States for supporting Israel's cruel treatment of the Palestinians. That anger in turn helps fuel terrorism against America. Remember that the 9/11 Commission Report, which describes Khalid Sheik Muhammad as the "principal architect of the 9/11 attacks," concludes that his "animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." Osama bin Laden's hostility toward the United States was fuelled in part by this same concern.

Popular anger toward the United States also threatens the rulers of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, key U.S. allies who are frequently seen as America's lackeys. The collapse of any of these regimes would be a big blow to the U.S. position in the region; however, Washington's unyielding support for Israel makes these governments weaker, not stronger. More importantly, the rupture in Israel's relationship with Turkey will surely damage America's otherwise close relationship with Turkey, a NATO member and a key U.S. ally in Europe and the Middle East.

Finally, there is the danger that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities, which could have terrible consequences for the United States. The last thing America needs is another war with an Islamic country, especially one that could easily interfere in its ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is why the Pentagon opposes striking Iran, whether with Israeli or U.S. forces. But Netanyahu might do it anyway if he thinks it would be good for Israel, even if it were bad for the United States.

Dark Days Ahead for the Lobby

Israel's troubled trajectory is also causing major headaches for its American supporters. First, there is the matter of choosing between Israel and the United States. This is sometimes referred to as the issue of dual loyalty, but that term is a misnomer. Americans are allowed to have dual citizenship - and in effect, dual loyalty - and this is no problem as long as the interests of the other country are in synch with America's interests. For decades, Israel's supporters have striven to shape public discourse in the United States so that most Americans believe the two countries' interests are identical. That situation is changing, however. Not only is there now open talk about clashing interests, but knowledgeable people are openly asking whether Israel's actions are detrimental to U.S. security.

The lobby has been scrambling to discredit this new discourse, either by reasserting the standard argument that Israel's interests are synonymous with America's or by claiming that Israel - to quote a recent statement by Mortimer Zuckerman, a key figure in the lobby - "has been an ally that has paid dividends exceeding its costs." A more sophisticated approach, which is reflected in an AIPAC-sponsored letter that 337 congresspersons sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in March, acknowledges that there will be differences between the two countries, but argues that "such differences are best resolved quietly, in trust and confidence." In other words, keep the differences behind closed doors and away from the American public. It is too late, however, to quell the public debate about whether Israel's actions are damaging U.S. interests. In fact, it is likely to grow louder and more contentious with time.

This changing discourse creates a daunting problem for Israel's supporters, because they will have to side either with Israel or the United States when the two countries' interests clash. Thus far, most of the key individuals and institutions in the lobby have sided with Israel when there was a dispute. For example, President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu have had two big public fights over settlements. Both times the lobby sided with Netanyahu and helped him thwart Obama. It seems clear that individuals like Abraham Foxman, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, and organizations like AIPAC are primarily concerned about Israel's interests, not America's.

This situation is very dangerous for the lobby. The real problem is not dual loyalty but choosing between the two loyalties and ultimately putting the interests of Israel ahead of those of America. The lobby's unstinting commitment to defending Israel, which sometimes means shortchanging U.S. interests, is likely to become more apparent to more Americans in the future, and that could lead to a wicked backlash against Israel's supporters as well as Israel.

The lobby faces yet another challenge: defending an apartheid state in the liberal West is not going to be easy. Once it is widely recognized that the two-state solution is dead and Israel has become like white-ruled South Africa - and that day is not far off - support for Israel inside the American Jewish community is likely to diminish significantly. The main reason is that apartheid is a despicable political system that is fundamentally at odds with basic American values as well as core Jewish values. For sure there will be some Jews who will defend Israel no matter what kind of political system it has. But their numbers will shrink over time, in large part because survey data shows that younger American Jews feel less attachment to Israel than their elders, which makes them less inclined to defend Israel blindly.

The bottom line is that Israel will not be able to maintain itself as an apartheid state over the long term because it will not be able to depend on the American Jewish community to defend such a reprehensible political order.

Assisted Suicide

Israel is facing a bleak future, yet there is no reason to think that it will change course anytime soon. The political center of gravity in Israel has shifted sharply to the right and there is no sizable pro-peace political party or movement. Moreover, it remains firmly committed to the belief that what cannot be solved by force can be solved with greater force, and many Israelis view the Palestinians with contempt if not hatred. Neither the Palestinians nor any of Israel's immediate neighbors are powerful enough to deter it, and the lobby will remain influential enough over the next decade to protect Israel from meaningful U.S. pressure.

Remarkably, the lobby is helping Israel commit national suicide while also doing serious damage to American security interests. Voices challenging this tragic situation have grown slightly more numerous in recent years, but the majority of political commentators and virtually all U.S. politicians seem blissfully ignorant of where this is headed, or unwilling to risk their careers by speaking out.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/211256-Israel-A-Suicidal-Apartheid-State

Psychological warfare will lead to the war. Israel wants Saudis to fight for her in Iran, Pakistan and Yemen, but Iran targets Israel interests

Report: US warships stationed off Iranian coast

By Daniel Tencer
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 -- 4:22 pm

As unconfirmed reports of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities pick up steam in the Middle Eastern media, a US-based strategic intelligence company has released a chart showing US naval carriers massing near Iranian waters.

The chart, published by Stratfor and obtained by the Zero Hedge financial blog, shows that over the last few weeks a naval carrier -- the USS Harry S Truman -- has been positioned in the north Indian Ocean, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, which leads into the Persian Gulf. The carrier joins the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was already located in the area. The chart is dated June 23, 2010.

Reports of mass movements of Israeli and US naval warships have been circulating through the media for weeks. On June 19, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that 12 US and Israeli warships were seen moving through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

And a report from the Associated Press published Saturday evening cited "unconfirmed" reports from Israeli and Iranian media that Saudi Arabia has allowed Israel to use its territory in preparation for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

"The allegation could not be independently confirmed, and the Saudis deny cooperating with the Israeli military," AP reported.

An article in the Gulf Daily News, largely dismissed by Western observers, did not mention any
Saudi involvement but said Israel is preparing to attack Iranian targets from the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The claims that Israel may be preparing for an assault on Iranian nuclear facilities were strengthened this weekend by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who told reporters at the G8 summit in Canada that G8 leaders "believe absolutely" that Israel will "probably" strike Iran.

“Iran is not guaranteeing a peaceful production of nuclear power [so] the members of the G8 are worried and believe absolutely that Israel will probably react preemptively,” Berlusconi said, as quoted at Ha'aretz.

CIA director Leon Panetta said Sunday that Iran has enough enriched uranium to build two nuclear bombs. In an interview on ABC's This Week, Panetta also said he believed the recent spate of international and US sanctions against Iran will not convince the country to change course on its nuclear program.

"Will it deter them from their ambitions with regards to nuclear capability? Probably not," Panetta said.

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0627/report-warships-stationed-iranian-coast/

Israel is pushing Jewish Al Saud against Iran in 2010

Israel is pushing Jewish Al Saud against Iran in 2010

ANOTHER MAJOR SIGN OF THE END OF ISRAEL, FAMILY RULERS IN THE KHALEEJ KILLING EACH OTHER TO STAY IN POWER. IS 2010 A TURNING POINT AGAINST ISRAEL IN THE MIDDLE EAST ? THE FALL OF MUBARAK AND THE SEFARAD SAUDIS WILL BREAK ISRAEL INTO SHRED PIECES....

Zionist Rulers of Arabia

Brief synopsis about the leading Saudi figures

King Abdel Aziz:

also known as Ibn Saud. King Abdul Aziz is the father of King Fahd and 44 other sons. Abdul Aziz united Saudi Arabia with the sword. A savage bedouin whose self gratification, war after war, was to taste the blood of those he killed. During the early twentieth century, he offered his services to the Ottoman empire and was rejected by the Turks as unreliable and uncivilized. The British, during the same period, were looking to increase their sphere of influence in Arabia, and saw in Ibn Saud the unruly, savage warrior they were looking for to control Arabia for them. They financed him and protected him to deliver Arabia to them. Among the many of the ruling families during that period : The Hashemites (King Hussein of Jordan), the Rasheeds (trading respected family from Saudi Arabia) and the Idrisses were all unwilling to deal with the British empire after World War I on the British terms. The British found in Abdul Aziz a willing bandit they could rely on to conquer and preserve their interests. Since Abdul Aziz was a Wahhabi, he encouraged Fundamentalism to create fear in the various tribes he was trying to unite. Little did he and King Fahd after him know that fundamentalism has grown to become more than a politically oriented idealogy but a way of life.

King Fahd bin Abdel Aziz:

The corrupt members of Al-Saud Family are many. It is not easy to assemble facts on all of them with total accuracy, however, the most corrupt of them all and master of all masters is none other than the King himself. King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz. Absolute power over Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the Saudi government. He is the judge, jury, prosecutor, defense attorney, and executioner. Having total power, he has, with other members of his family, emptied the coffers of the government. Today, Saudi Arabia is bankrupt and has a very grim economic future because of his policies and lack of vision.
More about this king and his dark history of corruption and waste in future articles to come...

Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz:

Third in command of the country but no less corrupt than King Fahd is Sultan bin Abdul Aziz who has four titles all with the intent to retain power and to rob the country. He is the Deputy Crown Prince, Minister of Defense, Chairman of Saudia Airlines, and the Inspector General of the country of Saudi Arabia. Imagine being the fox watching over the chicken hen !! Minister of Defense and Inspector General. This is like having the head of the largest chemical company head also the Environmental Protection Agency. What a joke. Sultan is known for his sexual deviation including penophily. He maintains several bordellos for his own pleasures in Saudi Arabia and abroad.

Prince Muhammed bin Fahd:

Eldest son of King Fahd, Mohammad bin Fahd was exposed to corruption early on. With the blessings of his father, Mohammad has stolen government funds through large telecommunications projects. Telephone deals, cellular deals, equipment, etc... His wealth is valued at close to $5 billion mostly amassed during the heydays of the late seventies and early eighties. His father assigned a government post after he pilfered through business deals. Today, he is the governor of the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia where 25% of the oil world reserves lie. His father wants him to become the Crown Prince and Bandar bin Sultan the new Defense Minister.

Prince Faisal bin Fahd:

If a classroom had to write a thesis on al-Saud Family, Faisal bin Fahd would win the award for the imbecile of the family. Stupidly stubborn and unmistakably foolish, Faisal has spent his life in pursuit of two things : drugs and women. He gets his drugs from Lebanon through his business associates and his women from Europe following the same trail of contacts. This is a man who has never done anything right, good, or useful in his life. His father, King Fahd, appointed him as the head of all youth sports programs. One must be sick to appoint a well known drug addict to be head of all youth programs. This is like hiring a child molester as your Kindergarten teacher.

Prince Abdel Aziz bin Fahd:

The youngest son of King Fahd, Abdul Aziz is a 24 year old child who is the most protected child on earth. Born to an astute mother, King Fahd was duped into believing that if he took his son everywhere, he will never be assassinated (like King Faisal). So Abdul Aziz was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. This is a kid who is so spoiled and so protected that he has never known pain, physical, moral or emotional. People that are close to him say that he is unremarkable and vain. When his father had a heart attack in November of 1995, he bequested him $10 billion of his personal fortune. The money was transferred to Abdul Aziz accounts at Credit Suisse and Union de Banques Suisses in Geneva and Zurich with the help of Khaled al-Ibrahim, his uncle.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan:

The most ignorant and dangerous of the newcomers to the scene of politics. Bandar is the unofficial son of Sultan (See the full story below). For those who do not know him, Bandar is a murderer (he financed and approved the planting of a bomb in Beirut that killed 80 innocent women and children), a liar (Washington and his fellow Ambassadors know him well), a thief (ask Mrrs. Saeed Karma and Wafic Saeed in London), and a back stabber all in one. He also happens to be the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States since 1984, a side job considering that he spends his time plotting and stealing. His friends are few and his enemies are many. His dream is to return to power in Saudi Arabia jumping over Princes Naef and Salman. His uncle King Fahd is helping him achieve that goal. Once King Fahd dies, Bandar will lose all his powers. Bandar despises anyone who has more money than he does or is more respected than he is, mainly Prince Saud bin Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs who is highly respected, Prince Mohammad bin Fahd who is richer than he is, and lately Prince Walid bin Talal, the businessman wiz who has, unlike any of the al-Saud House members, made money rather than steal it.

Prince Khalid bin Sultan:

If one had to describe this big ugly huggable bear, the best description will have to be the quote provided anonymousely by General Schwarzkopf staff during the Gulf war : "When it comes to military knowhow, he gets a C minus.When it comes to bravery, he gets a D. When it comes to intelligence, he gets a D minus. Other than that, he is OK". This is the man who provided water and food to the Desert Storm troops through a contractual agreement with the government of Saudi Arabia. This contract alone made him $2 billion in commissions. After the war, he claimed that he was behind the victory of Desert Storm. Needless to say that he has been exiled to London where he has written a self-promoting book that exuded his intelligence and understanding of military operations. Even Prince Sultan wishes he never had that son. Today, he spends his time trying to impress Europeans and Americans alike through social activities. He is totally ignored except for those who benefit directly and indirectly from the crums of his money.

Prince Naef bin Abdel Aziz:

Minister of Interior and head of internal security, he is known for his cowardice. During the Mecca uprising by Jumaiha al-Otaibi, Naef fleed the Ministry to hide underground. It took a long time for him to recover. Naef oversees a large budget of which 40% a year goes to pay for bribes, kickbacks, and fixed contracts for himself and his sons. His weakness helped extremist elements in Saudi Arabia plant a bomb in Riyadh that killed five Americans. He spends most of his time overlooking a bloated bureaucracy that blocks his vision when it comes to the security of the country. His incompetency is never questioned as he is another Sudeiri. His younger brother Salman has made it clear that he will jump Naef to the throne when the right time comes.

Prince Saud bin Naef:

is the son of the Interior Minister. Here we have the typical son of a Sudeiri who steels from the government and then looses it all through rsiky businesses and pure stupidty. In fact, he is so financially overstretched that he is unable to maintain payments and obligations which means very little for him since he does not admit any obligations or knowledge of debts. A typical true business deal for Saud bin Naef is when he invested millions to build car inspection stations all over Saudi Arabia. After he built them, he went to his father seeking a royal decree that all 5 million plus cars in Saudi Arabia must be inspected annually by a certified inspection station. And the company that got immediate certification is none other than the one he put together prior to the decree. Saud bin Naef is a small government within a government charging people hundreds of Riyals a year to have their car inspected and then loosing it all somewhere else. How did the government of Saudi Arabia go bankrupt ?

Prince Salman bin Abdel Aziz:

As Governor of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdul Aziz wears many hats. He is the strongman of Saudi Arabia and heading fast to the throne. In the last year, Salman has met with major Jewish organizations in the US to dispel the rumors that he is anti-semitic and supports Israel in its push for peace. His message was met with skeptisism according to people who have arranged the meetings to take place. Salman is as corrupt as any of his brothers and has amassed his fortunes by appropriating vast lands from the government and then selling it back to the government for whatever he needed to cover the expensive lifestyle he maintains. Salman has been instrumental in advising Fahd on procedural issues regarding the future of the seven brothers in light of Prince Abdullah taking over the throne upon the imminent death of King Fahd. But lately, King Fahd has been ignoring him totally by advancing his son Mohammad and Bandar bin Sultan to the throne.

Mohammad bin Fahd Bin Abdel Aziz

Fifty-year-old Prince Mohammad is the second son of King Fahd. He is the governor of the oil-rich eastern province, the most visible of his brothers and a secret pretender to the Saudi throne. Simultaneously, he has been involved in more shady business pay-offs at home, moral and business scandals abroad and political negligence than the younger princes of his generation.

Mohammad's qualifications are vague; a high school degree from California. His ascendancy over his older brother Faisal owes more to the latter's lack of character than to Mohammad's talents. Faisal has been disqualified from fatherly attention for indulging in drink and drugs and the writer Peler Theroux (Sandstorm) has accused him to murdering his male lover. Mohammad stepped into the number one spot by default. Pay-offs at home take place through Mohammad's Al Bilad and United Arab Helicopter companies, but Mohammad's business interests were never limited to them. In fact, as we will see, companies were created to deal with huge individual contracts and dissolved after the illegal deal was concluded.

The biggest scandal conducted under the cover of a company of convenience was exposed by the Guardian and Wall Street Journal newspapers in November 1980. A Japanese company called Petrmonde was buying 140.000 barrels of oil a day from ARAMCO at $32 a berrel. However, close examination revealed the following: the company was paying $34.63 a barrel and the differential amounted to $368.000 a day ($135 million a year), the company was not Japanese but London-based and headquartered at the Al Bilad offices and the difference in price was pocketed by Mohammad. Occurring as it did during the Iran-Iraq War, a period of tight oil supplies, the deal infuriated the American oil companies which put pressure on ARAMCO and brought the arrangement to an end. But Mohammad walked away wealthier and though Petromonde disappeared.

A second deal involving Mohammad and Saudi Telecom was an open contract but no less horrific in its scale of corruption. In 1979 international firms were invited to undertake the tripling of the number of Saudi telephone lines from 200.000 to 600.000. The project was so huge, some of the companies transported their offers in pick up trucks, and the value was estimated at somewhere between 6 and 10 billion dollars. The contract was won by a consortium of Philips of Holland, Bell of Canada and Sweden's Erikson and the agent was the Mohammad-owned and operated Al Bilad company. Other contenders for the contract, ITT, Western Electric, Thompson of France and Hitachi, smelt a rat and demanded an investigation. They claimed that their offers were lower and better than those of the winning consortium and tried to reach Mohammad to lodge a protest, but he was not available.

Nor were King Khalid and crown Prince Fahd available to receive American Ambassador William Porter who too tried to protest on behalf of his county's multinationals. Eventually the noise died down, estimates of the Mohammad-Al Bilad commission run as high as 20 per cent or $1.3 billion of the $6.7 billion winning tender. To this day, the maintenance contract for this project, because other contractors have disqualified themselves knowing that they can't win, is with Mohammad and its carries a hefty commission much greater than is acceptable in normal circumstances.

Mohammad's colossal home contracts didn't stop him from misbehaving abroad. Among others, he had established connections with British MP and one time Under Secretary of Defence Jonathan Aitken. The British politician appears to have used Mohammed's Al Bilad London offices free of charge and there have been allegations, so far unrefuted, that Mohammad and Aitken have conspired to sell arms to Singapore which eventually found their way to Iran at a time when such sales were prohibited.

Moreover, in 1981, the News of The World newspaper reported an incident involving Mohammad and a London girl for hire. His Highness appears to have roughed up the girl and escaped to America after she threatened disclosure. This aspect of Mohammad's character is reported to have more to it and a recent television programme has accused Aitken of procuring for Royals and implied that Mohammad was involved.

Most recently, during the Gulf War, Mohammad was accused of realizing hundreds of millions of dollars in profit from housing and feeding American troops sent to Saudi Arabia to protect it against Saddam Hussein. Housing these troops meant building temporary accommodations on public land confiscated by Mohammad specifically for that purpose. Feeding them, ordinarily a simple operation, found some of Mohammad's open or de facto companies charging exorbitant rates to provide them with everyday provision. It is estimated that Mohammad's profits out of this were $28 per soldier, per day, If the number of soldiers was 500.000 then it adds up per diem $14.000.000. If Mohammad's business deals make corrupt financial sense then his political qualifications are totally absent. His first appointment to an official position was as assistant to the Minister of Interior, and there is very little to report about that. Later, in 1985, he was appointed Deputy Governor of the Eastern Province and once again it is impossible to judge a performance by its non-existence. Yet later, in 1989, he was appointed to the important post of governor of the same province.

Perhaps the best way to judge his governance is to review his action in 1995. He spent five months away from his post, in Arizona in the United States with his ailing mother. During that period nothing was done, no one dared make any decisions because everything is in Mohammad's hands. Upon his return, he was confronted with the problem of what to do to implement promises made to the Shias of this province in return for making peace with the house of Saud.

The Situations in the Eastern Province continues to deteriorate, Mohammad shows no interest in the affairs of the state, his business activities continue unabated despite the overall reduction in the oil income of the country and his personal behavior is as abominable as ever. Yet, this is the star among Fahd's sons, the one his father is thinking of making King, supposedly the symbol of a new generation to replace the old discredited one.

Nayef bin Abd-al-Aziz

63 years old, Minister of the Interior. Since taking over the Ministry of Interior in 1975, Prince Nayef has been subjected to national and international attention owing to occurrences of repression and scandals. More recently he has been in the limelight for his heavy-handed clampdown against the alleged authors of the two anti-American bombings which took place in November 1995 in Riyadh and June 1996 in al-Khubar. Unfortunately, his harsh repressive stance has been closely linked to corruption and murky dealings, like most of the members of the House of Saud. Yet, initially the man was not, to use an understatement, as irresponsible as he is today. Who is Nayef bin Abd-al-Aziz? Born in 1933, Nayef is the third son of Hussa bint Ahmad al-Sudeiri, one of the seven Sudeiri brothers. He obtained his first degree in the Kingdom, but is not particularly bright intellectually, nor is he considered to be well educated. However, an honorary doctorate was conferred upon him by South Korea in 1979.

Good man turned evil:

Nayef is one of those strange human beings that mankind has known throughout the centuries. He was a calm man, who always avoided making hasty decisions in matters which committed the reputation of his ministry and himself. He used to comport himself with good manners and deference, earning himself respect and consideration amongst important personalities in society, amongst politicians and even diplomats. He maintained particularly good relations with the ulama and the religious institutions. But one day, in 1991, there was a certain Gulf War and the man turned evil almost overnight. He is known to have spoken in a way which does not befit an ordinary man, let alone his office as Minister of the Interior.

The appointment and promotion:

In 1951 he was given his first ever appointment as Deputy Governor of Riyadh from which he became Governor in 1953 only to cede it to Prince Fawaz a year later. From then on he did not assume any responsibility in public service until 1971 when his elder brother (Interior Minister Fahd) appointed him as his Deputy. Four years later, after the assassination of King Faisal in 1975, he eventually became Interior Minister himself. Twenty one years later, he is still head of this ministry and his record is indeed impressive.

Sudeiris tighten grip on power:

The Sudeiris reached the highest positions of the State when Faisal took over as King in 1962. Fahd was given the Interior, Sultan the Defence and Salman the Governorate of Riyadh. The appointment of Nayef as Deputy Interior Minister in 1971 was seen as a move which reinforced the grip of the Sudeiris on the State machinery. When he took full charge of the Ministry in 1975, Nayef, in turn, appointed his younger brother Ahmad as his deputy with whom he has since planned and executed the ministry's policies.

Importance of the Interior Ministry:

As Interior Minister, Nayef was granted important prerogatives following the demise of King Faisal. These were to gradually increase year by year, thereby emphasising the importance of the Interior Ministry in the strategy of the House of Saud of holding onto power.

The Interior Ministry has usually been seen as the bridge to the supreme office, as the cases of King Faisal and King Fahd demonstrate. Since its inception, the post has respectively been held by Prince Faisal before he became King, Musa id bin Abd-al-Rahman Al-Saud, Abd-al-Muhsin bin Abd-al-Aziz, Faisal bin Turki bin Abd-al-Aziz, Fahd and finally Nayef. Moreover, a great many lesser princes have been employed by the ministry throughout the Arabian provinces and emirates, which indicate yet again the extent of the House of Saud's grip on the country. The Interior Ministry's importance comes from the fact that it controls the policing of the population through the security services; the borders and coasts through the Borders and Coast Guards and the tribes through the so-called Mujahidin Forces. Under Nayef, and among its prominent services are the Special Police Forces, who have became notorious of late and the Anti-terrorist Squad.

One of the features of Nayef's authority, is that all civilian services within the country's provinces report directly to his ministry even if they are attached to other ministries. This is another strategic method by which the House of Saud foils possible unrest and uncovers any activity deemed suspicious. This prerogative has enabled Nayef to infringe upon the authority of the Minister of Justice as Nayef is able to control the proceedings of scores of courts, especially those dealing with political activity.

Another aspect of Nayef s prerogatives is his overall control of the media. The Supreme Information Council, set up in 1977, paradoxically comes under his authority instead of that of the Ministry of Information, which once more underlines the repressive character of the regime. Even the Foreign Ministry's Information Department was integrated into this council which has become the initiator of both internal and external information policy. In the wake of the 1979 revolt inside the Sacred Mosque in Makka, Prince Nayef was given unlimited power over the audio-visual and written press. Under the notorious March 1980 Decree no. 78, Nayef appointed a representative of his Ministry to monitor the activities of newsmen whom he forced to practice self-censorship.

In the field of human rights Nayef has always ignored the requests of human rights organizations regarding the rights of political prisoners for fair trials, and has even undertaken media campaigns against them in an attempt to belittle their importance. In the recent trials of defendants charged in connection with the Riyadh and al-Khobar anti-American bombings, Nayef himself oversaw the proceedings and is reported to have personally interrogated the accused, while circulating rumours that they were ShiÕa dissidents rather than an armed opposition to the Saud oligarchy. As a prince belonging to the family of King Abd-al-Aziz, Nayef is annually entitled to a remuneration of $100 million.

He also has a quota of oil which accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars, in addition to a quota of royal lands which he resells. He is also known to have confiscated land for his own benefit claiming that it was for security reasons. Meanwhile he is rumoured to be involved in the sale of drugs and alcohol for which he receives a commission.

In the meantime, one of his wives, Maha Sudeiri, is known to dominate him and actually makes decisions in his place at the Interior Ministry, which has led to persistent abuses of power. The victims are the ordinary people. Also, her misbehaviour abroad was such that an American television stations in Florida broadcast a film about her. Her attitude caused great embarrassment to the House of Saud who kept urging Nayef to divorce her, but in vain.

As the fourth key personality of the regime (after the King, the Heir Apparent and the Defence Minister), Nayef has an eye on the highest office, but so has his elder brother, Sultan and younger brother, Salman. This situation has created a rift between the Sudeiris, although this has so far been kept under control. But for how long? And would this diminish Crown Prince Abdallah's chances of succeeding the ailing King Fahd?

Sultan bin Abdel Aziz

SULTAN, the Defence Minister and son of King Abdul Aziz, was born in 1924. He is one the Sudeiri Seven, the full brothers of King Fahd. He is second in line to the Saudi throne.

Ambitions of a would-be Dictator:

Sultan rose to fame when he was appointed Governor of Riyadh, the capital city. But he became more powerful when he was appointed Defence Minister in 1964, a post which he still holds. Worse than this, within the Sudeiri family's relentless endeavour to secure monopoly of power, Sultan gradually acquired many other important posts in addition to the defence ministry. He is now the Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers, the Government's General Inspector, Head of the Higher Education Council, Head of the Higher Council for Islamic Affairs and, last but not least, Head of the Higher Labour Council. These were only his most important responsibilities.

Sultan has nurtured his ambition to succeed King Fahd and this ambition has become even more apparent since Fahd's health has degenerated irremediably over the last year. But his half-brother, heir apparent Prince Abdullah, is next to succeed King Fahd under Saudi succession law which reserves the right to succession to the most senior prince. The fact that the dejure successor is Crown Prince Abdullah, is for Sultan and his six Sudeiri brothers, a great obstacle.

Low IQ blamed for violent behaviour:

Sultan is known for his manichean classification of people as masters and slaves. The best example is his long-standing, irrational determination to disown his own son Bandar, son of a slave woman, for fear that he might become a slave. He refrained from doing so only after King Faisal's intervention. But fate decreed that Bandar became an educated person, and is the Kingdom's Ambassador to Washington, while Sultan's other sons have inherited their father's undesirable traits. His class mentality expresses itself in his attitude towards the respected men of the nation and its scholars on whom he bestows derogatory nicknames.

Among the members of the House of Saud, Sultan shines with ignorance. He had little formal education and acquired his present fame only on account of his family name. Those who know him testify that his knowledge and experience does not exceed the fields of repression, wealth plundering and moral perversion. Despite his oratory style he is known to make regular blunders in speeches. For example, when addressing the inhabitants of Jizan (a part of the Kingdom) he began by conveying to them the regards of the people of Arabia, a statement that made him the laughing-stock of the whole country.

Such behaviour stems from his inferiority complex which partly explains why he is the most zealous opponent of education. But at another level, Sultan believes that educating people paves the way for awareness and thus the questioning of the House of Saud's dictatorship. In the past he took a strong stand against educational development projects. When the Islamic reformist movement inaugurated its period of political questioning in the nineties, through the scholars memoranda for reform, Sultan felt a malicious pleasure to tell his ruling brothers you did this yourselves when you allowed them to get educated.

The man is not renowned for his capability to deal with problems using hindsight, calmness, wisdom, argument and dialogue worthy of any respectful political leader. Lacking all of these qualities has given him an inferiority complex which impels him to resort to force and violence in order to deal with any political opposition.

A threat to the Kingdom:

The 1994 clampdown against reformist scholars took place too late as far as he was concerned. If it had been up to him, and if King Fahd had not feared social unrest, he would have led the crackdown years earlier. In any case, reliable sources within the regime told MIRA that Sultan was the one urging the Sudeiris which led the last two years campaigns against the reformist opposition; he is reported to have personally signed the arrest warrant against Sheikh Safar al-Hawali and Salman al-Awdah. He is also said to have taken steps with the judicial authorities to obtain a series of immediate executions against the Muslim reformists and only backed down after being advised of the untold social unrest that such executions would entail.

His violent attitude and disrespect is unwisely directed even at people whose loyalty is important to him. He is known to be deeply unpopular in the armed forces that he heads. On the advice of foreign powers, he retires officers early and rotates them frequently for security reasons. Meanwhile, he is known to be very abusive to the high-ranking officers he commands and to whom he is supposed to be a role model. In this respect he does not refrain from insulting, hitting and spitting at officers in front of their colleagues. He reportedly humiliated them this way even in the presence of foreign delegations just as a master would do with his slaves.

Psychologists would surely find Sultan very interesting. He has married many times and into different tribes. He allegedly does not even know how many children he has. Dangerous claims have been said about his personal life. Indeed, it has come to the knowledge of the opposition (and unfortunately interested parties outside the Kingdom) that Sultan may have something to hide. Furthermore, according to reports, his psychological condition has been blamed for dubious decisions relating to army promotions, relationships and so on. Also, MIRA has learned that a number of foreign countries and other parties have blackmailed Sultan and the Kingdom through the procurement of material evidence depicting his immoral behaviour. This may explain some of the policies that the Kingdom has adopted in order to suit the political and strategic interests of such countries.

Obviously, from the Islamic point of view this is scandalous as Sultan is the Defence Minister of the country in which there exist the holy shrines of Islam. Furthermore what is striking is not so much his absence of devotion to Islam but his intolerance of practising Muslims. He is reported to have severely beaten one of his new employees. The unfortunate man had ventured to call for prayer at one of his residences (the call being a regular practice, officially enjoyed all over the Kingdom).

As far as corruption is concerned, the Defence Minister is one of the richest multi-billionaires in the world. He has used the defence ministry to amass an untold amount of wealth in the 32 year period he has been at its head. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the armed forces over this period. Yet it arose that of the total amount spent only 5% was effectively used for the purchase of military hardware and training. It will not be difficult to imagine where the remaining 95% went. Meanwhile the Arabian armed forces humiliated by Sultan himself, ill-equipped and lacking obvious military training were caught unprepared in 1991 by the invading Iraqi army. That the whole episode was a foreign conspiracy is self-evident as far as we are concerned, it remains though that Sultan and his brothers turned the US military assistance into a glorious episode through the manipulation of their subservient media.

Bandar bin Sultan

For those who know him, Bandar has grown up unhappy and deprived of any real fatherly love. His mother was a slave girl of Sudanese origin, which caused his father to steer clear of him. Because of the status of his mother, his father, Defence Minister Sultan has for a long time denied that Bandar was his son. So intense was Sultan's irrational behaviour that he thought that Bandar would grow up with a slave mentality. Sultan only refrained from disowning Bandar as a result of King Faisal's intervention.

Bandar was born in 1950 and, owing to his father's rejection spent most of his childhood with his uncles. He would only meet other members of his family on special occasions such as at gatherings at his aunt Hissa al-Sudeiriyah. He also made good childhood relationships with the Sudeiri children, such as his half brothers Fahd bin Sultan (born in 1953) and Khalid bin Sultan (1949) and also with his cousins Mohammed bin Fahd (1948), Sultan bin Fahd (1951) and Su'ud bin Nayef (1955).

At the insistence of, his now mature child and Bandar's uncles, Sultan eventually agreed to meet Bandar and patched up his relationship with him. To Sultan's surprise, the unwanted child showed a high level of intelligence, which he had developed in the company of the Sudanese in whose company he grew up after being rejected by his other brothers.

Bandar was then sent to attend American schools along with the other Sudeiri children. In 1967, he joined the British Air Force Academy in Cornwall. After his graduation he was sent for further training in American air bases in Texas and in Carolina. At the end of his air force training, Bandar joined John Hopkins University in the United States where he graduated four years later in International Relations and Politics.

Bandar's relations with the United States started under the Presidency of Jimmy Carter where he built up strong ties with Carter's collaborators, Hamilton Jordan and Robert Strauss. He thus, gradually eased himself into the position of intermediary between his country and the American Administration by conveying messages and views between the two sides.

In 1979, during a trip to the United States, Bandar paid a visit to President Jimmy Carter who stressed his country's strong relationship with Saudi Arabia and promised assistance to Riyadh if the Iran-Iraq war threatened the Saudi Kingdom.

Following Iran's initial victories over Iraq and the occupation of part of the Basra area by Iranian troops, the United States sent on 28th September 1981 a delegation to Arabia headed by General David Jones, joint Chief of Staff, to convey to them that the turn of the war was worrying Washington who feared the fall of the House of Saud. The American delegation was welcomed at Dahran Airport by Prince Fahd bin Abdallah and Prince Bandar who was then promoted to the position of commander of a squadron of jet fighters.

The House of Saud, which was already alarmed by Iranian victories over Iraq, enabled Bandar to play a key role in acquiring AWACS radar planes. Requested by Bandar, General David Jones conveyed to the Carter Administration the Saudi need for the AWACS, but the pro-Zionist lobby in Congress opposed the sale of AWACS to an Arab country on the grounds that it this would constitute a threat to Israel.

But months later, the Saudi's felt an even greater need for the AWACS. They needed someone who could convince Washington of such an urgent need and give assurances that the radar planes would not be a threat to the Zionist State. The House of Saud agreed that the man tailor-made for this mission was Bandar, who indeed succeeded and thus, Arabia obtained the American-manned AWACS.

His success earned him the promotion of Ambassador to Washington. Bandar soon became very friendly with the Head of Operations at the CIA who was in charge of contacting foreign diplomatic missions in Washington. He reportedly involved himself in CIA activities and surprised diplomats with lavish parties parties organised by his wife Fiha, daughter of Faisal bin Abdelaziz in defiance to the Kingdom's traditions and moral code.

One of the missions entrusted to Bandar was to find a solution to the Palestinian issue and the recognition of Israel by the Arab States. Being involved with the CIA, Bandar also played a role in the Western Sahara in favour of Morocco in its dispute with Spain. Similarly, he played a role in the Lebanese conflict and was in charge of supplying the Phalangist movement with Saudi arms and armoured vehicles through Port Said and via Malta, but his plan was frustrated when the Maltese authorities intercepted the ship.

In the Lebanon hostage crisis he stated to Al-Sharq al-Awsat (25/02/85) that he was making every effort to obtain the release of the hostages. In Sudan, he intervened on the side of the separatists of the South and provided them with financial and medical assistance. His relationship with the CIA led him to becoming entrusted with a mission to assassinate Sheikh Fadlallah of the Lebanese Hisbullah but the bomb intended to kill the man missed its target. Bandar also involved himself in many other murky affairs such as with the Nicaraguan Contras.

Arms Deal

Is the Defence Minister Prince Sultan fond of arms deals because of the cash rewards they bring ? or, has the House of Saud been pressurised into buying American arms for other reasons? At the end of January, there was extensive Press coverage in the United States concerning an accord which stipulated that the Saudi rulers, had in principle, agreed to buy up to one hundred F16 jet fighters for an estimated value of $25 billion - $30 billion. According to an anonymous official who spoke to the press the deal will be signed during a future, but unspecified, visit to Washington by the Saudi Defence Minister.

According to expert sources in the arms trade, the total cost of the fighter planes is just $2.5 billion, whilst the outstanding balance is alleged to cover spare parts and maintenance for the jets and the training of the flight crews !

This deal comes as a surprise for several reasons. To begin with, the Saudi army does not need a new air defence system nor does it even need reinforcement. The Yamama deal with Britain (in the mid-1980's) and the earlier American-bought AWACS and F15 planes more than cover the needs of Arabia's air defence. In addition, none of these planes have ever been used.

What is even more surprising is that the deal comes at a time of dire economic crisis in the Kingdom: The Government's total debt has spiralled to more than $100 billion and if one includes unemployment (already at a staggering 25% of the active population), rising inflation, the rapidly decreasing income level per capita and poor social services, one cannot find any justification for new, very costly and otherwise unwarranted military spending.

It is equally interesting, and curious to say the least, that the deal has come at a time when the Saudi rulers are basically at the mercy of America, with the latter literally occupying Arabia and looting its resources against a background of anti-American guerrilla operations. So, is the deal a mere deal, or does Washington have a few cards up its sleeves which enables it to put a knife to the House of Saud's throats? Moreover, why would Riyadh enter into such a new deal when it has already passed deals with the United States totalling $25 billion and whose payment facility spreads to the year 2,000.

This deal also comes at a critical time in the bitter dispute between the different members of the House of Saud over the succession to King Fahd. However, if, as it appears, such a deal does not worry the Americans it is possible that they are already certain of who the eventual victor in the succession conflict will be.

Another reason to be vigilant remains that the leaks concerning the arms deal follow shortly after the FBI's Director Louis Freeh's angry outburst about the Saudi rulers' secretive approach to the inquiry over the anti-American bomb attack at al-Khobar on 25th June last year. At a meeting with Washington Post staff, he expressed his frustration about the lack of Saudi cooperation. The Attorney General, Janet Renois, also made a similar statement on the same day. Was this a coincidence, or did these two officials have the green light to do so for other reasons ? What is clear is that not only will this arms deal cause even further financial hardship for the Arabian people, but that it may also have serious consequences for America too.

So what are the possible motives behind this deal. Could it possibly be that the Saudi rulers are trying to placate the Americans after having lied to, and embarrassed the Americans about the authors of the Khobar attack ? Or, on the contrary, is the US Administration raising the stakes by using the FBI's Director's angry remarks to strategically secure more leverage over the House of Saud by forcing the deal through?

In our view, the deal is not being used to boost the Kingdom's air defence, nor is it an attempt by Riyadh to placate the Americans in the Khobar bombing affair. Simple though the explanation may be, it appears as if the Defence Minister Prince Sultan believes that he will again make a huge commission on the deal as he did on the Yamama deal with Britain which was revealed by the British press at the time. Clearly his highness has not learnt his lesson.

As mentioned, experts in the Arm's trade have calculated that out of the total amount of $25 - $30 billion spent on the deal, only $2.5 billion is for the actual purchase of the F16 fighter jets. It is, therefore, totally inconceivable that the remaining $22.5 - $27.5 billion is for spare parts, training and maintenance. The reality, (which is now common knowledge) is to be paid in commission to the Sultan himself, his son Bandar and other close advisors and intermediaries such as arms dealers.

This deal will further strain the Kingdom's economy, and thereby generate not only more hardship for the Saudi population but further anti-government and anti-American feeling. Undoubtedly, it could lead to increased anti-American violence.

US press comments, however, gave numerous reasons as to why the deal should not go through. It was argued that if such enormous funds were available to the Saudis, then they would do better to alleviate the population's suffering by spending the amount on much needed social services. The US Press underlined the point that the Saudi economy could not support such expenditure, and noted that America would, by agreeing to this deal, undermine, and thus jeopardise the very stability of the pro-American Kingdom.

Such comments do point to a new awareness in America concerning the dangerous policy Washington is following towards Arabia. But this awareness does not stem from a novel, altruistic notion following on from the Vietnamese, Lebanese and Somali experiences, as unfortunately, it has needed two bomb attacks targeting US military installations in Arabia to drive home to the Americans that perhaps their country is easing itself into yet another quagmire. But still, some decision-makers in the Clinton Administration stubbornly seek to mortgage Arabia's oil for generations to come; so that if any political shift occurs in Arabia which questions the US domination of the Kingdom's oil resources, then the United States could invoke international law in order to justify a military intervention. In other words, it looks as if Washington is paving the way for the law of the jungle in Arabia, thus inaugurating what Chomsky called the new world disorder.

Khalid bin Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz

Lineage:

Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz. Must be known to many people. During the second Gulf war, he came on the news repeatedly due to his involvement in the war and because of the many gaffes he made. The Americans fought the anti-Iraqi war, but Khalid alleged that he won it He is the son of Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz and of Laila bint Ahmad Abdallah bin Uthman, sister of the late King Fasals wife Iffat al Thaniyan. He was born on 23rd September 1949 in Makkah and studied at the King Saud School for princes in Riyadh. Unlike his half brother Bandar, whose mother was a slave girl, Khalid was the subject of much attention from his father who saw in him his successor at the head of the Defence Ministry.

Education:

At a very young age, he was sent to train at Sandhursts military academy in Britain from where he graduated in 1967. He was then sent to Fort Pills in Texas for advanced training in air defence. He is said to have completed an MA in military Sciences at Fort Lefnort military Academy (Kansas City) in 1979. Meanwhile, he is alleged to have joined the Maxwell Air Warfare Academy in Alabama in 1980 and, strange though it may seem, he is officially reported to have carried, at the same time, yet another MA in Administrative and Political Sciences at Montgomery University, Alabama, only one year after the previous MA. Some people do have an extraordinary IQ and time.

In any case, back in Arabia, he was promoted very swiftly. He successively occupied the positions of Air Squadron Chief, Training Officer/ Assistant Staff Officer for Operations, Army Inspectorate Chief. Director of the Administration of Air Defence Projects, Deputy Chief of the Air Force, Chief of Air Defence and, to crown it all, Chief of the Strategic Missiles Force.

Quest of Notoriety:

Prince Khalid was in the shadow during his studies and while in the various offices he occupied. His urge to become known nationally and to be heard of internationally led him to do what the other Gulf princes normally do, that is to give an astonishing donation to save a westerner in danger of death. Khalid did just that when he offered a huge amount of money to an American child who needed a heart and kidneys transplant. He announced this sensational news in front of an American television crew during a holiday in the Bermudas.

But Khalid came to notoriety through his dealings with the London-based arms merchant Mohammad Wafiq al-Said. Arms deals involving Defence Minister Sultan and his sons made Wafiq al-Said a billionaire and Khalid the same. The first deal in which Khalid was involved alongside al-Said appears to have been the purchase of administrative equipment for an air defence system, bought from France in January 1984a deal which was, at that time, the biggest arms deal the French had ever made.

The commissions made on the it were to the tune of $750 million, with $300 million taken by Prince Khalid alone. Khalid also shared with his father, his brother Bandar, al-Said and others, a two billion dollar deal for the purchase of 10 Boeing transport planes and their spare parts for Saudia Airlines in 1984 (Sunday Times 5/8/84). During the scandal over the £20 billion Yamama deal with Britain in 1984, Khalid was mentioned in the international press as being involved in the commissions which reportedly reached half the total of the cost of only the Tornado jets side of the Yamama deal. Witnessing before an American civil court, a former head of the British Arms Company, Gerald James said that each Tornado was sold to the Saudis for £40 million whereas the standard price is only £20-22 million.

Another nine billion dollar deal with American for the supply of F15 fighter jets was reported in the international press as having a real value of four billion dollars. Khalid was again quoted as having pocketed a share of the remaining five billion dollar commission alongside his father, brothers, King Fahd and the usual sharks around them.

The air surveillance AWACS radar planes deal of 1980, organized by Bandar bin Sultan, also involved a hefty commission for Khalid whose name was mentioned in this connection in the Dooley Papers. The usual partners in the deal got their share of commission through Global Enterprise Group, a company set up for this particular purpose.

Khalid Enters the Media World:

After the 1979 Sacred Mosque incident, the Iran-Iraq war and some other scandals involving their royal highnesses, the House of Saud, and the Sudeiris in particular, realized the importance of a media network under their control. So, from 1984 on, they embarked on building a veritable media network which has come to include many Arabic dailies and weeklies as well as radio and television stationsmost of international coverage. Once the network was in place, Prince Khalid was pushed to the fore mainly to project the Sudeiri familys views to the world.

Khalids first appearance in the media world was his attempt to buy the British daily The Observer. He offered a very attractive price but, however moderate an Arab he was in the eyes of the West, he remained after all an Arab and, in the view of some shadowy political lobbies, the Arab must not be given the opportunity to own media of international coverage. Hence, his offer to buy the British daily was turned down.

Continuing in his attempts, he bought off the Lebanese newspaper El-Hayat in 1988 and started its daily publication from London under the editorship of a former Lebanese Maronite, Jihad al-Khazen. Meanwhile, he bought actions in the Bahraini daily Al-Ayyam and later founded the weekly Al-Wasat in London. About a year ago, he set up the Arab-American Television station in the United States.

Even though all the Saudi-controlled media are in the hands of the Sudeiris, conflict between them erupted over many petty issues, which led them to a lot of bickering in public. This is how Al-Sharq al-Awsatfounded by Khalids uncle Salman! published the photo of Prince Khalids mistress Brigitte Nelson, while Khalids El-Hayat published King Fahds mistress Leila Alawi.

Desert Storm Blows Khalid Away:

Khalids career declined sharply with the second Gulf war. King Fahd entrusted him with the catering service of the anti-Iraqi coalition of forces under the leadership of American General Schwartzkopff. Misleadingly named by the Saudi monarch Chief of the joint forces. He was, in fact, simply a collaborator of the Americans against his own people because of assisting the friendly forces over sensitive issues likely to cause anti-American unrest among the Arabian people. His being constantly present alongside General Schartzkopff in the Operations Room got him some media coverage both nationally and internationally. So, he soon became too big for his boots. Apart from diverting an important part of the catering budget, which aggravated Washington, he dared criticize General Schwartzkopff, who had returned to America. Later Khaled wrote in his book Desert Warrior that the success of the Gulf war was due to his own planning.

Even more compromizing was his statement shortly after the war over the necessity of rearming the Arabian army (under the command of his father Sultan) and the National Guard (under the command of Crown Prince Abdallah, Sultans rival), and the need to make compulsory conscription, all of which are sensitive issue within the House of Sauds carefully maintained balance of forces. Other revelations made in his book, and which had been concealed by the Americans, regarding the role of the joint Arab troops during the Gulf war caused some friction between Washington and Riyadh which was the last straw and caused his downfall. Ironically King Fahad sacked him in humiliating circumstances for the same reason. Khaled went too far in his own imagination of being the Commander of the Forces. King Fahad was extremely furious when Khaled took several decisions without consulting him.

Khalid has ever since been ignored by the regime and the Saudi media. He has gradually slumped into oblivion. Neither his father, nor his estimated wealth of $10 billion have been of any assistance to remember him to the world. Perhaps another $50 billion donation to help control AIDS in America might do the trick

Prince Faisal bin Fahd Bin Abdel Aziz

Prince Faisal, son of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, was born in 1945. He did most of his studies in the Kingdom and obtained a BA in Political Sciences from abroad.

His first job was in 1971 as Head of the Youth Department with ministerial rank. The Labour Ministry was also attached to his Department. Since then, he has had many positions, all within the youth and sport areas. He was successively President of the Arab Football Union, Arabian Football Union, Arabian Olympic Committee, Arab Sports Union and Head of the National Committee on Drugs Control. At the international and regional level, Faisal bin Fahd was nominated Honorary President of the International Swimming Federation. In 1974 he became Chairman of the Arab Ministers’ Council on Youth and of member of the Supreme Council of Youth which was set up that very year. Finally, he acquired the position of President of the Basket Ball Federation. During his term in these positions, he naturally attended a great many sports events including the conferences of the International Football Federation in Munich between 1972 and 1974.

Faisal has been kept in the same position since he was appointed to it in 1971 at the time of King Faisal, when his own father was Interior Minister. In the meantime, his brothers and cousins in the Sudeiri family had been raised to higher offices. In fact, were it not for the present system of succession to the throne, which was established by his grand father King Abdulaziz, Faisal would have had the chance to become king himself, especially as he is well educated. So, why is it that he has been kept in the same position when he is not less eager than his relatives to wield power? Faisal bin Fahd was connected with the Youth Department at an early age, when the situation of sport in the kingdom was dismal with almost inexistent sport facilities. His appointment at the head of this Department coincided with the oil boom.

The plan was to make sport popular among the youth. But the ultimate objective of the Sudeiris was a long term strategic one. The point was to keep young people busy in order to protect the grip on power by the House of Saud. Many countries, like the former Soviet bloc, used sport as a means to keep their youth away from any political or intellectual activity. Various studies exist which show that the use of sport for such ends put state budgets for games second only to military expenditure in such countries.

As a by-product of this objective, another not less devious goal was sought: the creation of a feeling of national, ‘Saudi’ belonging which would supersede and even marginalize the Arabian youth’s sense of belonging to the wider Arab and Islamic Ummah. For this purpose Saudi Arabia had to fix the ways and means to train a sport-oriented youth which would enable the Kingdom to have access to International events and Olympic games to eventually instil this sense in an ever greater number of youths.

The House of Saud gave Faisal all the prerogatives to attain this goal. With an annual budget of $20 billion for the Youth Department, Faisal embarked on a programme of impressive sport facilities and training and visits to various world-famous clubs were regularly undertaken and Western coaches recruited at great costs. With the assistance of his brother Sultan bin Fahd, Faisal undertook the construction of sport villages, centres and stadia, clubs and fully staffed training facilities of all kinds at a cost considered enough to be meet the nations needs until the year 2000. One particular sports complex occupies an area of 80,000 m2 and cost xxxxxxx1,280 Saudi Riyals.

It accommodates swimming pools, Olympic-standard activity areas, restaurants for 1,000 people and a purpose-made building for the House of Saud and their guests. Faisal had similar complexes built in the other major cities like Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Alongside these facilities, separate Olympic-grade swimming pools, youth hostels as well as unions and clubs for all sorts of games were set up. At the same time, Faisal undertook to have the Saudi national team and clubs join international federations. It was in this context that, in 1976, he hired the British football coach Jimmy Hill. Hill was given a special budget with prerogatives to train young people of all ages, everywhere in the kingdom. In a move to boost the country’s chance of winning matches and get promoted to higher divisions, Faisal hired several western players at prohibitive costs.

Therefore, the cost of hanging on to power is double: on the one hand, billions of pounds have been spent out of the country’s wealth; on the other hand, through sport the youth is being alienated from its Islamic values and traditions, and is being made redundant intellectually. Not that sport as such is the "opium of the people," but the very policy which underlies it is intentionally devious and harmful. Whereas the Sudeiri brothers— morally and financially corrupt—are banking on time to instil in the youth the a sense of narrow nationalism and regionalism, the late Al-Saud kings can be credited with keeping away from these concepts for religious reasons and because of the kingdom’s religious weight in the Muslim world. Apart from heading the Sudeiri family’s policy of alienating Saudi youth, Prince Faisal is no exception in the world of financial corruption. His commissions are reported to be 30% of the budget of his Youth Department. This classic way of obtaining commissions is no different from that of his father, uncles, brothers and cousins: a percentage is taken on each project, service and equipment supplies. Another percentage is taken annually on the earnings of each of the facilities. Yet a further source of illegal income comes from the budget devoted to sports events both at home and abroad.

Faisal’s embezzlement was not limited to the sports world and his Department. According to two authors, Nacer Said (History of the House of Saud, Arabic p. 773) and AbderRahman Al-Shamrani (The Scandal Kingdom, Arabic, vol. 2, p. 287), Faisal obtained a commission of $40 million from the European company Philips which was entrusted with the modernization of the country’s telephone system in the seventies. Meanwhile Faisal was involved in the confiscation of poor people’s lands. He is known to have taken 4 million m2 of land along the Jeddah sea shore, while he confiscated the Dammam Project no. 92 which included 92,000 allotments distributed to impoverished people. Property licences were suddenly withdrawn from the beneficiaries overnight without any valid explanation and the lands were given to Prince Faisal. The latter’s embezzlement from real estates is reported to be much higher than the commissions he acquired through his office at the head of the Youth Department.

King Fahd who used to prepare his sons for high offices became desperate about Faisal’s disastrous behaviour. This explains why the King, his father, has decided not to promote him. Indeed Faisal is known to be both a homosexual and a chronic drug addict. For all this, King Fahd reportedly continued to test him. In the hope of getting him to improve, he gave him several sensitive missions to Gorbatchev’s Soviet Union and to communist China under cover of sporting events. But this was to no avail as Faisal continued his drug addition and went even as far as having a drug wing under his control, which led to complaints from various foreign diplomatic and intelligence services to the Saudi authorities, according to a journalist close to the royal family. As a remedy, Faisal was sent to the West for drug addiction treatment. It was at that time that he was appointed president of the Drug Control Committee, a move meant to encourage him to give up taking drugs but, again, to no avail.

In view of his son’s hopelessness, King Fahd decided to groom his other two sons, Muhammed and Abdulaziz bin Fahd, for high positions. Muhammed was then dropped and the King concentrated his attention on Abdulaziz. The latter received $300 million from the state’s budget while his father transferred to him another all his fortune both in real estates and in money—a total estimated to be to the tune of $40 billion. Needless to say that all this aggravated Faisal who saw his chances of promotion gone, perhaps for ever.

Yet, Faisal is not poor: the wealth he stole or was given from the people’s stolen wealth is estimated to be between seven and ten billion dollars. He is still relatively young, so he still may have a lot of time to plunder and become richer.

http://just-another-inside-job.blogspot.com/2008/12/zionist-rulers-of-arabia.html

Translated from Arabic

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