Black Money and Terrorism Blackmail

After "Syriana" and all those heavy-breathing movies about oil, money and corruption, the most horrific Mideast drama of all is on PBS' Frontline this week as it documents the story of Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar and the British arms company BAE that culminated in the blackmailing of former prime minister Tony Blair with threats over terrorism to stop investigating billions of dollars in bribes.

What's most discouraging is that this story is not new. Testimony in a London court over a year ago led a judge to conclude that Blair "rolled over" for Bandar "just as if a gun had been held to the head" of the government.

The Saudi Prince threatened to hold back information on terrorists and suicide bombers that would lead to the loss of "British lives on British streets" if Blair's investigators kept looking into charges that he took $2 billion of bribes in arms deals with the British company BAE. They stopped.

Now Frontline is telling the Bandar-BAE story from its roots in the Margaret Thatcher era to the present day when only the US Justice Department is doggedly pursuing charges of massive criminal corruption by the Bush family's Saudi friend who liked to call himself "Bandar Bush."

The details add up to souped-up penthouse porn with "black money" paying for fast cars, loose women, shopping sprees and a private jet decorated with the colors of Bandar's favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys.

For movie buffs, an added frisson is that the documentary is the work of Lowell Bergman, played by Al Pacino a decade ago in "The Insider," about his misadventures as a 60 Minutes producer trying to get the story of Big Tobacco's misdeeds on the air.

But Americans are still smoking and the Saudis are still raking in huge bribes. Truth may out, but does anybody care?

The Mother of All Mideast Scandals

Huge bribes, arms deals and threats of terrorism are the elements of an unfolding plot centering on the good friend of both Presidents Bush, Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.

Testimony in a London court yesterday led a judge to comment that former Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared to have "rolled over" for Bandar "just as if a gun had been held to the head" of the government.

The Saudi Prince was accused of threatening to hold back information on terrorists and suicide bombers that would lead to the loss of "British lives on British streets" if Blair's investigators kept looking into charges that he took $2 billion of bribes in arms deals with the British company BAE. They stopped.

Now those charges as well as Bandar's strong-arming to suppress them are being heard in a British high court, and there are ongoing probes here as well.

Last summer, BAE disclosed that the US Justice Department is looking into the company's possible violations of corruption laws in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and this week, in a class-action suit brought by stockholders, a federal judge restrained Prince Bandar from transferring out of the country proceeds from his real estate deals, including the legendary Hearst Mansion, which he has put up for sale at $165 million.

As his country's ambassador in Washington, Bandar was so close to both Bushes that, immediately after 9/11, with air space closed to private flights, he was able to fly his family and friends home and, until recently, he was the key player in the Saudi game of publicly supporting US efforts against terrorism while allowing Saudi troublemakers to join Al Qaeda in Iraq to attack our troops.

Now, the story of the Playboy Prince's intrigues is beginning to unravel and, in coming months, may make Mideast conspiracy movies such as "Syriana" look like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Killers in Iraq: The Saudi Connection

Almost half of the insurgents American troops are fighting in Iraq came from our staunch ally, Saudi Arabia.

According to U.S. military figures just published in the Los Angeles Times, “About 45 percent of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15 percent are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10 percent are from North Africa.”

The Saudi government knows that and says it is doing everything possible to prevent Sunni extremists from migrating to the killing fields of Iraq. But is it?

The signals are getting decidedly mixed. Until recently, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who was ambassador to Washington until 2005, had Bush and Cheney eating out of his hand. But then last month, his uncle, King Abdullah told Arab heads of state that Americans in Iraq were “an illegal foreign occupation.”

“Saudi frustration,” the New York Times reported this weekend, “has mounted over the past four years, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated. King Abdullah was angry that the Bush administration ignored his advice against de-Baathification and the disbanding of the Iraqi military.”

Now questions arise: How hard are the Saudis trying to stem the tide of their Sunni jihadists into Iraq? To what extent is exporting troublemakers in their domestic interest and part of an unspoken policy? How much pressure are they putting on the Bush Administration to stay in Iraq by threatening to support Sunni fighters against Iran-backed Shiites if we leave? Behind it all, how much of American policy is driven by placating the Saudis to ensure the continuing flow of their oil to which we are addicted?

In the Middle East, keeping up with your friends can be as exhausting as fighting your enemies. Pakistan is another example. Stay tuned.