Free Republic

A senior Saudi Arabian diplomat and member of the ruling royal family has raised the spectre of nuclear conflict in the Middle East if Iran comes close to developing a nuclear weapon. Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, warned senior Nato military officials that the existence of such a device "would compel Saudi Arabia … to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences". He did not state explicitly what these policies would be, but a senior official in Riyadh who is close to the prince said yesterday his message was...

A leading member of Saudi Arabia's royal family warned that Riyadh could seek to supplant Iran's oil exports if the country doesn't constrain its nuclear program, a move that could hobble Tehran's finances. In closed-door remarks earlier this month, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal also strongly implied that Riyadh would be forced to follow suit if Tehran pushed ahead to develop nuclear weapons and said Saudi Arabia is preparing to employ all of its economic, diplomatic and security assets to confront Tehran's regional ambitions.

...Palestine's future won't be dictated by the U.S. and Israel.... Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA President Obama gave a rousing call to action in his controversial speech last month, admonishing Arab governments to embrace democracy and provide freedom to their populations. We in Saudi Arabia, although not cited, took his call seriously. We noted, however, that he conspicuously failed to demand the same rights to self-determination for Palestinians — despite the occupation of their territory by the region’s strongest military power. Soon after, Obama again called into question America’s claim to be a beacon of human rights by allowing Israeli Prime Minister...

As best I can recall, I met Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al-Faisal at a home in Washington years ago. I found him stern and humorless, sometimes even bitter. Still, I was unprepared for the opinion column he published in Sunday's Washington Post. It read like a declaration of war. Faisal is not now in the government. Yet, he is a member of the Saudi royal family and was once the kingdom's intelligence chief and its former ambassador to both London and Washington. He starts by citing what he calls President Obama's "controversial speech last month, admonishing Arab governments to embrace...

PARIS (Reuters) - The CIA rejected as fantasy claims in a new book that it tried to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Osama bin Laden just two months before the September 11, 2001 airliner attacks against the United States. Richard Labeviere, author of "The Corridors of Terror," released on Thursday, says the CIA's Dubai station chief approached bin Laden while the al Qaeda leader was being treated for a serious kidney complaint in the United Arab Emirates. He said the meeting took place in the American Hospital in Dubai on July 12, barely eight weeks before al Qaeda militants slammed...