Our man in Saudi Arabia seems to be losing touch

seatlte times ^ | 4/29/07 | Helene Cooper and Jim Rutenberg

[takenoprisoner]

No foreign diplomat has had a closer relationship or more access to President Bush, his family, and his administration than the magnetic and fabulously wealthy Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.

Prince Bandar has mentored Bush and his father through three wars and the broader campaign against terrorism, reliably delivering — sometimes in the Oval Office — his nation's support for crucial and sensitive Middle East initiatives requiring the regional legitimacy that Saudi help and approval brings, and keeping the United States apprised of Saudi regional priorities that might appear to be in conflict with U.S. policies.

But now, current and former Bush administration officials are wondering if the administration's longtime reliance on Prince Bandar has begun to outlive its usefulness.

[takenoprisoner]

Why am I not surprised?

[LegendHasIt]

Maybe it is the other way around:
The Bush Family has just about outlived its usefulness to Bandar and his family.

(I have no facts to back that up, just a random 'snark')

[expatguy]

/sigh

Bandar has been playing the naive Americans for too long.

[stocksthatgoup]

Consider the source: The Seattle Times

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Nuke the Saud. Take the oil and use it to:

1) Produce jet fuel to fly Al Gore, Sheryl Crow, Nancy Pelosi, Roger Moore and John Kerry around the world to spread their message of Peace and Sacrifice.

2) Power electric generators so that all those environmentally safe electric automobiles have a place to recharge.

3) Heat all of John Edwards' houses.

4) Power ships and planes to take out Venezuela.

5) Provide power, HVAC and light to all those Judeo-Christian refuge and survivor relief groups that will be needed around Mecca.

[Joe Boucher]

The saudis have played the Bush’s and the U.S.A. like a drum.
They are not our friend. The “royal house of saud”, has used us to help keep them in power in that sand pit and we have allowed it.

[kabar]

It's a two way street. We have sold the Saudis billions of dollars worth of goods and services, which creates jobs in the US. We are their biggest trading partner in terms of exports and imports. They have used their excess capacity in oil production to stablize oil prices during various crises in the region, at our behest. They have been the conduit for US involvement in Afghanistan against the Soviets. They have acted behind the scenes for us on many occasions.

It is a complicated bilateral relationship. As the world's biggest exporter of oil and with the largest proven oil reserves amounting to about 20% of the world's supply of oil, Saudi Arabia will remain a critical player in the global economy for the forseeable future. That's the political reality that goes back over 6 decades when FDR met with King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud on February 14, 1945 on the USS Quincy at the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal.