Turki bin Faisal al-Saud

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Turki bin Faisal al Saud

House of Saud
Turki bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud

Prince Turki bin Faisal al-Saud (born February 15, 1945) is the former Saudi Head of Intelligence, Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and he served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from July 2005 until December 11, 2006.[1] He is a son of the late King Faisal and a nephew of the late King Fahd.

Turki studied at The Lawrenceville School, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in the class of 1968, Princeton, and Cambridge.

A member of the Saudi Royal Family, Turki held the position of Chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service for 25 years, from 1977 until shortly before the Sept 11th attacks, after which he was replaced by his uncle Prince Nawaf Bin Abdul Aziz.

In 1993, Turki helped mediate between warring factions in Afghanistan. In 2002, Turki was named ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland. In July 2005 it was announced that he would succeed Bandar bin Sultan as Saudi ambassador to the United States. He was replaced as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland by Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud.

He is married to Princess Nouf bint Fahd bin Khalid al-Saud, with whom he has six children: Faisal, Nura, Abdul Aziz, Saud, Mishail and Mudhi.

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[edit] Alleged Relationship with al-Qaeda

Turki has been controversially associated with the terrorist group al-Qaeda. As head of Saudi intelligence, he met with Osama bin Laden several times during the 1980s hoping to convince him to lead an army in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Saudi intelligence joined Pakistan's intelligence service and the CIA in funding the mujahideen.

Turki's relationship with bin Laden and al-Qaeda after bin Laden became an official enemy of Saudi Arabia and lost his Saudi citizenship is unclear. A continued connection to bin Laden was claimed in an article by Paris Match magazine. In 2002, Turki was named in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit by the families of September 11 victims, alleging that he and other Saudi princes, banks, and charities may have funded the terrorists involved in the attack. His involvement was also strongly implied in the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 911. A reporter for the Baltimore Chronicle claimed he was flown out of the United States shortly after the terrorist attacks, but the claim disappeared from later versions of the article.

Turki maintains that he has had no contact with bin Laden since shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. He claims to have secretly negotiated with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in 1998 in an attempt to have bin Laden extradited to Saudi Arabia, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. In a November 2001 interview, Turki expressed support for the US operation in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In December 2004, Turki was awarded libel damages from Paris Match for its claims that he was connected to the attacks. In 2005, a US federal judge ruled that Saudi officials including Turki were immune from the lawsuit. Turki has severely criticized al-Qaeda, calling it an "evil cult."

[edit] Quotes

  • "No matter how exalted the aims of the U.S. in the [Iraq] war, in the final analysis it was a colonial war very similar to the wars conducted by the ex-colonial powers when they went out to conquer the rest of the world."
  • "I challenge the Palestinian people to give up the armed struggle and follow the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King by engaging in civil disobedience instead of violence, even in the face of Israeli guns. Violence is the weapon of the weak; non-violence is the weapon of the strong."
  • "Saudi Arabia has worked with the United States for the past 70 years. Both countries have benefited from this enduring partnership. Remember that we face the same threat: Bin Ladin targeted Saudi Arabia before he targeted America. Al-Qa'ida has thousands of followers from more than 60 countries, including those of many U.S. allies. That he chose 15 Saudis for his murderous gang, many of whom, he boasted, did not even know the ultimate goal of their mission, can only be explained as an attempt to disrupt the close relationship between our two countries.... There are those in America who condemn all Saudi Arabians as uncivilized, close-minded and barbaric. But such blanket accusations are not worthy of the American people.... Let us deny extremists the victory of undermining our partnership. Instead, let us remain strong, and, whatever shortcomings we see in each other, let us confront them and overcome them together in a spirit of mutual respect and openness."

[edit] References

  1. ^ Reuters (2006). Embassy official: Saudi ambassador to U.S. resigns. cnn.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Saud, Turki bin Faisal al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Turki bin Faisal (alternate form)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Saudi politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Saudi Arabia
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH
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