Bandar bin Sultan 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”. His particularly close relationship with the Bush family was highlighted in Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. He was reportedly so close to George H. W. Bush that he was often described as a member of the former president’s family. He advocated Saddam Hussein’s overthrow in Iraq in March 2003. He encouraged military action against Iraq and supported Dick Cheney’s agenda for “The New Middle East”, which called for pro-democracy programs in both Syria and Iran. Additionally, Prince Bandar’s children supposedly attended the same school where Cheney’s grandchildren were enrolled.
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Bandar bin Sultan is the head of al-Qaeda terrorist group and the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Syria.
Before ISIS even surfaced publicly this Arabian article from Alalam was written pointing out Bandar not only pulled the strings for Al-Qaeda, but ISIS as well.
Saudi Prince is real leader of al-Qaeda: Syrian envoy
http://chasvoice.blogspot.jp/2013/10/saudi-prince-is-real-leader-of-al-qaeda.html
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan is the head of al-Qaeda terrorist group and the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Syria, Suleiman said, according to an article in Arabic language Ray al-Youm website.
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Is Saudi Prince Bandar really behind Syria chemical attacks *vid*
http://chasvoice.blogspot.jp/2013/09/is-saudi-prince-bandar-really-behind.html
A report by Dale Gavlak, has collected the testimonies of witnesses who say that “certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the gas attack.”
Bandar bin Sultan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandar_bin_Sultan
Ambassador to the United States (1983–2005)
Secretary General of National Security Council (2005–present)
Director General of Saudi Intelligence Agency (2012–2014)
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Bandar 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.
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Bandar 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 his 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. In 2009, he hired Louis Freeh as his legal representative for the Al-Yamamah arms scandal.
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In the summer of 2013, after the U.S., UK and French officials accused Syria’s Assad regime of using chemical weapons against its opponents, Syria, Russia and Iran, countered with assertions that the chemical weapons had actually been deployed by the Syrian rebels themselves in a “false flag” attack designed to bring international condemnation down on the Syrian government.
Prince Bandar became one focus of these accusations, in particular according to the findings of American news organisation Mint Press News reports of the Ghouta residents;
Iranian media also have asserted that Bandar was the source of these alleged weapons transfers.
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The Twenty-Eight Pages
by Lawrence Wright
The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/twenty-eight-pages
**
The Saudis have also publicly demanded that the material be released. “Twenty-eight blanked-out pages are being used by some to malign our country and our people,” Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who was the Saudi Ambassador to the United States at the time of the 9/11 attacks, has declared. “Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages.”
**
Another Saudi who was in San Diego at the time, Osama Basnan, also befriended Hazmi and Mihdhar. As it happened, Basnan’s wife was receiving charitable gifts from Prince Bandar’s wife, Princess Haifa. The payments—as much as seventy-three thousand dollars over a period of three years—were supposed to fund the treatment of a medical condition that Basnan’s wife suffered from. According to pleadings in the lawsuit against the Saudis, some of that money went to support the hijackers in San Diego. The F.B.I. has not found any evidence that the money got into the hands of the hijackers, however, and the 9/11 Commission found no links to the royal family.
【マネー得捜本部】「ＩＳＩＳ」の後ろ盾となるサウジとアメリカの関係悪化が日本に飛び火する日
ZAK×SPA！
http://www.zakzak.co.jp/zakspa/news/20140922/zsp1409221130001-n1.htm
イラク、シリアでテロ行為を働き、８月には日本人の湯川遥菜氏を拘束したイスラム教スンニ派過激組織「ＩＳＩＳ」。銀行、石油精製所などを襲い、資金力を得てきたこのテロ組織の背後には、アメリカとの溝を深めたイスラムの盟主の姿があった……。ＩＳＩＳがもたらす悪影響を闇株新聞氏が読み解く
◇
ＩＳＩＳとは「Ｉｓｌａｍｉｃ Ｓｔａｔｅ ｏｆ Ｉｒａｑ ａｎｄ Ｓｙｒｉａ」。「イスラム国」と訳されているが、国際的に承認された国ではない。’００年にヨルダン人のザルカーウィーが設立したテロ組織が前身で、’０４年にはビン・ラディン率いる国際的テロ組織・アルカイーダと合流したものの、’０６年には分裂していた。
ＩＳＩＳとは、前例がないほど資金力と近代兵器と残忍さを備えたテロ組織である。イラク北部で中央銀行支店から４億ドルを強奪し、クルド人自治区のパイプラインを制圧して奪った原油をスポット市場で換金し、新たな人材と武器を調達して対立するイスラム教シーア派やクルド人らを虐殺しているようである。ＩＳＩＳはスンニ派であり、’１０年から指揮をとるアブー・バクル・アル＝バグダディーをカリフとして、世界中のイスラム教徒は忠誠を誓うべきと主張している。イスラム教徒は全世界に１６億人、うちスンニ派は１４億人もいるので、もしバグダディーが真のリーダーとなれば、中東のパワーバランスが崩れ、原油価格にも重大な影響を与える。そうなると最も影響を受けるのが原油の中東依存が大きい日本である。
このＩＳＩＳがテロ行為を働き続けている背景には、複雑な世界情勢もある。もともと中東は英国とフランスが支配していたが、戦後は米国がサウジアラビアに接近して膨大な石油利権を獲得し、中東でリーダーシップを発揮してきた。ところがオバマ大統領はこの最も重要なパートナーであるサウジ王室との関係をギクシャクさせてしまった。サウジはスンニ派でも最も戒律が厳しいワッハーブ派であるが、オバマはイラクでフセイン元大統領を追放したあと、シーア派の現政権の後ろ盾となり、最近はシーア派のイランとの対話も始めてしまった。スンニ派とシーア派は１３５０年以上も憎み合ってきたため、サウジ王室にとって容認できるはずがなく、昨年サウジは国連安全保障理事会の非常任理事国を辞退してしまった。
ここからが重要である。サウジは本年４月に２２年間も駐米大使を務めて情報機関のトップでもあったバンダル王子を更迭したが、これは米国政府の圧力だった。バンダル王子こそアルカイーダやＩＳＩＳなどイスラム過激派の最大スポンサーであると同時に、米国政府最大の助言者（悪く言えば情報提供者）だったはずだ。このバンダル王子を米国政府が更迭させた理由は、王子を介して米国政府とアルカイーダが「何らかの繋がりがあった」と勘繰られることを恐れたためとも考えられる。バンダル王子は解任直後に毒殺されそうになったとの噂まであるが、６月にアブドラ国王に極めて影響力がある「国王顧問」として復活していた。ＩＳＩＳがイラク北部で“急に”勢力を拡大した時期に符合する。つまりＩＳＩＳはサウジという強力な後ろ盾を得ており、同時にサウジと米国のギクシャクが想像以上に根が深いと考えるべきである。そのダメージを最も大きく受けるのが日本であることを忘れてはならない。
■ 今週の数字 ＩＳＩＳの保有資産：２０億ドル超
今年６月頃にイラク政府軍が把握したところによれば、ＩＳＩＳの武装組織は１万２０００人超。シリア東部の石油販売、銀行強盗、麻薬の売買などにより資産は２０億ドル超
Saudi Arabia intensifies crackdown on extremist groups
Eighty eight people are arrested days after imam is jailed for glorifying al-Qaida and Isis
by Ian Black
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/saudi-arabia-isis-jihadis-iraq-syria-extremists-crackdown
Saudi Arabia is intensifying its high-profile crackdown on extremists against a background of growing alarm about jihadis in Iraq and Syria. it announced the arrest of 88 people, days after an imam was jailed for glorifying al-Qaida and the leader of Islamic State (Isis).
Scores of alleged militants have been imprisoned in recent weeks as the authorities have condemned Isis and warned, as King Abdullah told foreign envoys at the weekend, that terrorism needs to be fought “with force, reason and speed”.
The government in Riyadh is rattled by the advances made by the jihadis and embarrassed by the fact Saudi nationals are estimated to make up the second biggest contingent of Arab foreign fighters in the ranks of the organisation, about 2,500 compared to 3,000 from Tunisia.
The Saudi interior ministry said it had arrested 88 people accused of preparing attacks at home and abroad. Three were Yemenis, one of unknown nationality and the remainder Saudis. Of those, 59 had previously been detained for membership of a “deviant group” – the usual term for al-Qaida. All had been under surveillance before being detained in the last few days, Al-Arabiya TV reported.
Saudi media are reporting almost daily on the discovery of signs of support for Isis – most recently in slogans scrawled on the walls of schools in the al-Naseem neighbourhood of Riyadh.
Having in effect defeated al-Qaida in a concerted anti-terrorist campaign in 2004, the government fears the consequences of fighters returning from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq and the enthusiasm they command at home.
It rejects accusations that it is responsible for creating the group because of Saudi promotion of fundamentalist doctrine and anti-Shia sectarianism over many decades. But the Saudis, Qataris and other Gulf states played a key role in backing Islamist brigades fighting to overthrow Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, some of which later morphed into Isis.
“Isis could not have come about without the Gulf states turning a blind eye to funding,” said Toby Matthiesen, a Gulf expert at the University of Cambridge. “It’s this ad hoc mentality where they do something and don’t think of the consequences. They felt they occupied the moral high ground. They wanted Assad to go but now are confronted with people who want to take over Mecca and Medina on the basis of Salafi Wahhabi ideology. Monarchs don’t fit into that. Potentially there are a lot of Isis supporters in Saudi. It is a really tricky situation for them. And they are under heavy pressure from the west to show they are fighting Isis.”
The anti-Isis campaign is also being pursued diplomatically, with the Saudis urging allies to shore up those threatened. Crown Prince Salman, the defence minister, was in Paris on Monday, seeking $3bn (£1.8bn) worth of weapons to help Lebanon’s army fight a growing threat from jihadis in Syria.
The Saudi government now bans its citizens from fighting abroad, donating money or sympathising with militant ideologies. Last week the grand mufti urged young people to ignore calls to jihad from people representing deviant principles.
On Monday 17 men in Saudi Arabia were sentenced to jail terms ranging from two and a half years to 26 for following extremist ideology, planning to fight in Iraq, coordinating the travel of “misled” members of society and trying to turn public opinion against the state.
Last week a Riyadh court sentenced an imam to five years in prison after he was convicted of glorifying takfiri organisations that accuse others of apostasy. The unnamed imam was found guilty of inciting against the state in a sermon which was widely distributed on social networking sites. He also urged mothers to raise their children to be advocates of jihad and promoters of virtue. “Many Muslim lions have gone to Syria to fight the tyrant [Assad] and defend Islam,” he said. He also praised the work of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis.
If the Saudi government is alarmed, popular understanding of Isis seems limited. In a film circulating on social media a preacher named Sheikh Fawzan explains that the group is the creation of “Crusaders, Zionists and Safawis” (a pejorative term for Iranians and other Shia Muslims).In May, the interior ministry said it had dismantled a major terrorist organisation with 62 members and links to extremist elements in Syria and Yemen that was plotting attacks against government facilities and foreign interests.