Riyadh Parries Washington's Wrath

Intelligence Online
October 4, 2001

 


The Saudi monarchy's ambivalent attitude towards Sunni fundamentalists led George W. Bush 's circle to undertake discreet but very firm consultations with Crown Prince Abdallah. The bargaining took place between Sept. 15 and Sept. 28 and began when the U.S. authorities called in Bandar Bin Sultan, Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and son of the current Saudi defense ministry, for talks in the U.S. capital. The envoy was handed a list of demands that ranged from the legal to the diplomatic and consisted essentially of programming the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Although Prince Abdallah immediately interpreted the requests rather as accusations, the royal family found itself obliged to modify its policy with regard the Islamists and thus re-gear its relationship with the Pakistani secret service ISI (Directorate for Inter-Service Intelligence), secular arm of the fundamentalists. According to exclusive information gleaned by Intelligence Online from diplomatic sources based in the Saudi capital, a decisive meeting took place in that respect on or around Sept. 19 in Riyadh. It was attended by Gen. Mohamed Youssef, head of ISI's Afghanistan Section which has lived essentially off subsidies from the Saudi secret service GID since 1994; also on hand were ISI director Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed, Nawaf Bin Abdul Aziz, the new head of GID and Prince Abdallah in person. Under the latter's authority, the officials agreed to the principle of trying of neutralize Osama Bin Laden in order spare the Taliban regime and allow it to keep its hold on Afghanistan, which the Saudis view as a precious extension of their influence in central Asia. The very presence of Youssef in Riyadh, interpreted as a mark of obedience, allowed Abdallah to reassure the pro-American wing of the monarchy and above all the defense minister, Prince Sultan. The Saudi foreign minister, Saudi Al Faycal, was dispatched to Washington on Sept. 25 to mull anti-terrorist cooperation with officials from the State Department and the White House. As a sign of Saudi sincerity on that point, Faycal was accompanied by the most secretive man in the kingdom: Gen. Abdul Malek Al Shaikh. Officially taking over the functions of GID's operations director, he has been considered the real boss of the agency since Turki Al Faycal left the organization (IOL 412). But the senior officer is above all an eminent member of the Al Shaikh family, powerful guardians of the religion in Saudi Arabia and direct descendent of Abdel Wahhab, founder of Wahabism. He alone was able to offer Washington a credible guarantee of cooperation in tracking down the fundamentalists, which is now very much a condition of maintaining Saudi influence in Central Asia. Wahabism's Grand Mufti and Saudi Arabia's minister of religion belong to his family. Still, the financial aid that flows to Bin Laden and to fundamentalist organizations can be indirectly connected to the Al Shaikh clan's business operations. Holding all of the nation's religious powers, the family represents a precious and formidable ally for the Al Saud clan that rules the kingdom at a moment when the Middle East's Sunni Moslems feel humiliated by the large American military presence on Saudi Arabia's territory .The ?pure? form of Islam that the Al Shaikhs espouse calls on believers themselves to see to the defense of the holy sites. That reality, which is capable of toppling the Saudi dictatorship, explains the ambiguity of Abdallah's policy. That doctrine aims solely to maintain his regime's grip on power.


Copyright 2001 Indigo Publications

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