Dove Becomes Albatross for Great Britain, U.S.

By Eric Margolis; June 17, 2007 - Toronto Sun
http://torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/06/...

Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia is a renowned mover, shaker and charmer. As Saudi ambassador to the U.S., the influential Bandar schmoozed official Washington for two decades, became intimate pals with the Bush family, and a particular favourite at the CIA.

Bandar flew in his own personal Airbus painted in the colours of his favourite NFL team and threw lavish parties in his $135 million Aspen house. He was Mr. Saudi America.

Today, Bandar is chief foreign policy adviser to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. He is also a marketing genius.

The U.K. Guardian newspaper and BBC recently revealed that Bandar personally received over $2 billion US in "marketing fees" from the British defence firm BAE as part of the huge, 1985 al-Yamamah arms deal. Al-Yammah means dove in Arabic.

For the Saudi royals, Britain's outgoing PM Tony Blair, and Washington, the "dove" has become a big albatross.

During the 1980s, Saudi Arabia sought modern U.S. warplanes. But the U.S. pro-Israel lobby blocked the sale. The Reagan administration advised the Saudis to buy their warplanes from Britain.

PM Margaret Thatcher was only too happy [to] have BAE sell the Saudis 120 Tornado strike aircraft, Hawk trainers, military equipment, and lucrative training and maintenance programs worth some $90 billion and 100,000 British jobs.

WARPLANES IN STORAGE

The Saudis could barely operate modern military equipment; most remained in storage. Their arms deal [was] really about buying military protection from the western powers.

Thatcher ordered mandatory kickbacks that form part of all arms deals with Arab states be hidden from public gaze. They remained so until recent years when British and American government investigators began questioning secret, multi-million dollar payments routed from the U.K. to the Riggs Bank in Washington, and then to the pockets of Saudi's Prince Charming.

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. 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.

Bandar, who is considered a contender for the Saudi throne, denies any wrongdoing, claiming the funds all went into a legitimate Defence Ministry account.

Few believed him. If the funds were legit, why all the secrecy and money laundering? Were they simply western "baksheesh" for Bandar and his clan? Were they to help him against his main power rival, Prince Turki Faisal?

Could the billions have been used for covert operations, possibly with U.S. participation? One recalls the Reagan years when money from Israel's secret sales of U.S. 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 popularity of anti-western, militant Islamic groups is 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.

Islamic militants insist the west exploits their nations by keeping deeply corrupt regimes in power. In exchange for protection from their own people and neighbours, 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.

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 U.S. 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 Islamist's 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.