| Prince Bandar bin Sultan | |
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| In office | since 16 October 2005 |
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| In office | 1983–2005 |
| Successor | Prince Turki al-Faisal |
| Spouse | Princess Haifa bint Faisal |
| Full name | |
| Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud | |
| House | House of Saud |
| Father | Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud |
| Mother | Khizaran |
| Born | March 2, 1949 Ta'if, Saudi Arabia |
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud (Arabic: الأمير بندر بن سلطان بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود) (born March 2, 1949) is a prince of the Saudi royal family and was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. He was appointed Secretary-General of the National Security Council by King Abdullah on 16 October 2005. He is a son of late Crown Prince Sultan.
He had a close relationship with many American presidents, particularly George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. He was often called "Bandar Bush". He was at the center of the controversy in the Al-Yamamah arms deal, a corruption scandal that involved the sale of more than 100 warplanes.
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Bandar was born officially on March 2, 1949 in Taif, Saudi Arabia. His actual date of birth is reportedly later according to himself and Western think tanks. He had reportedly faked his birthday to enter the Royal Saudi Air Force.[1]
His mother — Khizaran — was an illiterate sixteen-year-old Yemeni employed as a servant from Yemen to his father.[2] Bandar, an only child, has said she was Sultan's "concubine". He lived with her and his aunt. He is recognized as royalty because King Abdul-Aziz personally named him and his 20-year-old father admitted he was his father. He was largely isolated from the royal family. He entered his father's bedroom for the first time when he was eight. He and his mother moved to his paternal grandmother's palace. His mother later taught herself to read and write.[3][4]
He went to Royal Air Force College, Cranwell. He received additional training at Maxwell Air Force Base and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He joined the Royal Saudi Air Force for seventeen years and became a lieutenant. He is a trained pilot and has flown numerous fighter aircraft. Bandar's military career ended in 1977 after he crash-landed his jet and suffered a severe back injury.[4] Afterward, he received a Masters in International Public Policy at the Johns Hopkins University at School of International Studies.[2]
His diplomatic career began in 1978. As the King's personal envoy, he successfully lobbied United States Congress to approve the sale of F-15s to Saudi Arabia. At the Oval Office, Carter told him to win the support of California governor Ronald Reagan. He did and in exchange helped Carter win the support of South Dakota Democratic Senator James Abourezk to support the Panama Canal treaty. Fahd made him Bandar an emissary to Carter and granted him permission to act independently of the Saudi-U.S. ambassador.[4]
In 1982, Fahd made him the military attache at the Saudi Embassy, a move which could have ended his diplomatic career. However in 1983, Fahd appointed Bandar as Saudi Ambassador to the United States.[4]
In 1983, Bandar was appointed ambassador to the United States by King Fahd. He has dealt with, in his tenure as ambassador, five U.S. presidents, ten secretaries of state, eleven national security advisers, sixteen sessions of Congress, and the media.[5] He had extensive influence in the United States. At the pinnacle of his career, he served both "as the King's exclusive messenger and the White House's errand boy".[5] For over three decades, he was the face of the Saudi Arabia lobby.[5][6]
During the Reagan presidency, he secured the purchase of AWACs surveillance aircraft despite AIPAC opposition.[5] After the United States rejected an arms order, he arranged the delivery of intermediate-range nuclear-warhead-capable missiles from China.[5] This angered the CIA and the State Department.[5] He was exposed for his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. He had arranged $32 million in Saudi financing for the Nicaraguan Contras.[4] Nancy Reagan used him to relay messages to the Cabinet.[4]
He has formed close relationships with several American presidents, notably George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, the latter giving him the affectionate and controversial nickname "Bandar Bush" [7] His particularly close relationship with the Bush family was highlighted in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. He was so close to George H. W. Bush, that he was often described as a member of the family.[4][8] He advocated Saddam Hussein's overthrow in Iraq.[9] He encouraged military action against Iraq and supported Dick Cheney's "The New Middle East" agenda which called for pro-democracy programs in Syria and Iran.[9] His children attended school with Cheney's grandchildren.
Clinton, as governor of Arkansas, had asked him to help pay for the Middle East Studies Center at the University of Arkansas.[4] In the 1990s, he persuaded Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi to turn in two suspects allegedly involved in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. He privately stated Gaddafi is "a Jerry Lewis trying to be a Churchill".[4]
On June 26, 2005, he submitted his resignation as ambassador to the United States for "personal reasons".[10][11] He returned to Saudi Arabia weeks prior to the death of King Fahd, upon which Bandar's father, Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, became the nation's Crown Prince. It has been rumored that Bandar's return was timed in order to secure a position in the new government.[12] In October 2005 he became the kingdom's national security chief. He was succeeded as ambassador by Prince Turki.
Bandar was appointed Secretary-General of the National Security Council by King Abdullah on 16 October 2005, which was extended for four years on 3 September 2009.[13]
He secretly met with U.S. officials in 2006 after resigning as ambassador.[14]
His last major public appearance was on December 10, 2008 in a meeting with King Abdullah.[15] After King Abdullah renewed his post for another 4-year term in September 2009, he did not provide the customary public allegiance to the King.[15] He did not show up with his friend Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in the opening of the new Cowboys Stadium.[15] In October 2009, he was not present in King Abdullah's delegation to the watershed Damascus visit.[15] In December 2009, he was not present in the return of his father, Crown Prince Sultan, from Morocco.[15]
According to Iran's PressTV, he was under house arrest for an attempted coup,[16][17] while opposition sources said he was in Dhaban Prison.[15] Some rumors allege that his coup was exposed by Russian intelligence services because of his frequent trips to Moscow to encourage cooperation against Iran.[15]
Other rumors alleged that he was undergoing treatment and two operations in Baltimore Johns Hopkins Hospital.[16] Bandar's lawyer denied these charges.[15] He has no spokesman.[18]
In March 2011, Bandar was sent to Pakistan, India, Malaysia, and China to gather support for Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain.[18][19] In April 2011, Bandar was present in the meeting when Secretary of Defense Gates visited King Abdullah and in a separate visit by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon.[19]
Bandar has endured controversy over allegations in the book Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward that President George W. Bush informed him of the decision to invade Iraq ahead of Secretary of State Colin Powell.[20]
He helped negotiate the 1985 Al Yamamah deal, a series of massive arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia worth GB£40 billion (US$80 billion), including the sale of more than 100 warplanes. After the deal was signed, British arms manufacturer British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) allegedly funnelled secret payments of at least GB£1 billion (US$2 billion) into two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington, in yearly instalments of up to GB£120 million (US$240 million) over at least 10 years. He allegedly took money for personal use out of the accounts, as the purpose of one of the accounts was to pay the operating expenses of the prince's private Airbus A340. According to investigators, there was "no distinction between the accounts of the embassy, or official government accounts [...], and the accounts of the royal family." The payments were discovered during a Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was stopped in December 2006 by attorney general Lord Goldsmith.[21][22] In 2009, he hired Louis Freeh as his legal representative for the Al-Yamamah arms scandal.[23]
In 1972, he married Princess Haifa bint Faisal, who has borne him eight children: four sons and four daughters. The youngest three (Fahad, Hussa, and Azus) attended Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, while living in the town from 2001 to 2005. His daughter Princess Reema bint Bandar organized the world's largest pink ribbon event in Saudi Arabia to raise awareness for breast cancer.[24]
His son Khalid is married to Lucy Cuthbert, niece of Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland.
Known for his cigar smoking,[25] he usually wears European clothes,[26] and he likes American colloquialisms and American history.[26] [26] In Washington, he earned a reputation for partying and drinking.[26] He may have recently abandoned alcohol after a death scare in the family.[26] In mid-1990s, he suffered his first depression.[27]
He considers himself an American Hamiltonian conservative.[4] Before the 2000 U.S. presidential election was decided, he invited George H. W. Bush to go pheasant shooting in his England estate in a "Desert Storm reunion".[4]
He travels frequently on his private Airbus A-340.[4] He owns Glympton Park, Oxfordshire.[28]
A few months after 9/11, Bandar went to Aspen, where he has a thirty-two-room mansion. On 12 July 2006, it was reported that Prince Bandar was seeking to sell his 56,000-square-foot (5,200 m2) mansion in Aspen, Colorado, for US $135 million. The palatial vacation home, called Hala Ranch, is larger than the White House, is perched on a mountaintop of 95 acres (380,000 m2), and includes 15 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms featuring 24-karat gold fixtures. In December 2006, the mansion was still listed for sale at $135 million.[14] In December 2007, the 14,395-square-foot (1,337.3 m2) guesthouse was sold for a reported $36.5 mm.[29] The purported reason for the sale is that Bandar is too busy to enjoy the mansion.[30]
While serving as the Saudi ambassador to US, the family lived on a large estate in McLean near the Potomac River.
