The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia [Hardcover]

David B. Ottaway (Author), David B Ottaway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2008

The story of the last thirty years in the complex relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia centers around its principle actor: Prince Bandar, the controversial longtime Saudi ambassador.

“Just how oil, arms, and Allah have served over time either to bind or sunder the United States–Saudi Arabia relationship is the focus of this book,” writes David Ottaway, who has chronicled the “special relationship” over the course of more than three decades at the Washington Post. No two governments and societies could be more different, and yet we have been bound together since 1945 by vital national security interests, based on a simple quid pro quo: Saudi oil at reasonable prices in return for U.S. protection of the House of Saud from all foreign foes.

However, the balance points of the relationship—often tenuous even in peacetime—have been fractured by the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Iraq: the price of oil has skyrocketed and Saudi Arabia has been powerless to stop its rise; the Iraq war has unleashed the prospect of a Shi’ite-dominated regime allied to Iran on Sunni Saudi Arabia’s borders; and militant elements within Saudi Arabia are ever more threatening. Not since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran has the House of Saud felt itself in such peril, and the Saudis have not forgotten the inability, or unwillingness, of the United States to save the Shah.

Nobody has been more emblematic of the Saudi-U.S. relationship, nobody has been at its center for longer, than Prince Bandar, the first Saudi royal ever to serve as ambassador to Washington. David Ottaway’s frequent access to the prince has allowed him unparalleled insight into the complex geopolitics that govern and have governed Saudi Arabia’s long dance with the United States, and his book, coming at a crucial juncture, explores what new common ground may be found between the two countries, and what may ultimately pull them apart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though Prince Bandar bin Sultan is the titular subject of this engrossing book, its real focus is the special relationship that developed between the United States and Saudi Arabia in the period following WWII, which began to unravel during the administration of George W. Bush. While pursuing a career in the Saudi Royal Air Force, Bandar emerged as a crucial broker of this diplomatic relationship, inadvertently falling into the role of messenger between King Fahd and President Jimmy Carter. Bandar retained this central role through the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton years, before finally leaving Washington in the summer of 2005. Ottaway (Chained Together) draws on interviews with many of the book's principals in writing this history, including Bandar himself, who proves a compelling figure but an unreliable source (the author makes special note of his tendency toward embellishment and self-aggrandizement). Aside from extremely brief forays into Bandar's personal life, Ottaway remains most interested in the unique political role the prince played, using Bandar's story to relay a rich, nuanced history of recent U.S.
Saudi relations. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Several recent books have narrated the unique relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia (Rachel Bronson’s Thicker Than Oil, 2006, and Robert Vitalis’ America’s Kingdom, 2007, for example), and at least one has narrated the life of Saudi Arabian prince and longtime U.S. ambassador bin Sultan (William Simpson’s The Prince, 2006), but Ottaway’s book is unique in noting that the two narratives are inextricable from each other. The peasant royal fighter pilot with unparalleled access to several U.S. presidents and a tendency to veer off the approved diplomatic script, bin Sultan was the custodian of a delicate yet enduring status quo—U.S. arms and military protection in exchange for cheap and plentiful oil. But, blindsided by 9/11 and powerless to hold down oil prices amid soaring global demand, even the living embodiment of the U.S.-Saudi relationship for nearly three decades could not prevent the unraveling of that relationship. Drawing on several interviews with bin Sultan (including lengthy conversations with an anguished bin Sultan not long after 9/11), Ottaway emphasizes bin Sultan’s centrality yet resists the temptation to mythologize. --Brendan Driscoll

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802716903
• ISBN-13: 978-0802716903
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living large Prince Bandar!, June 23, 2009

By 

Donald Hsu (NYC, United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia (Hardcover)

Ottaway did an excellent job in telling the readers, the 30 year old Saudi-US oil for security pact. In 1933, King Adbulaziz granted SOCAL (predecessor of Chevron) the right to prospect oil in the kingdom, and allowed the US to build the Dhahran air base to defend the kingdom. The purchases of the Airborne Warning and Control System, F-155, tanks, missles, etc gave US defense industries billions of dollars. At the same time, Saudis sold US millions barrels of oil, at the ongoing basis. Of course, Israel was not happy about this situation. Congress always fought against selling arms to the Saudis, from the lobby of American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Enter Prince Bandar, the King's messenger. Serving five presidents: Carter, Regan, Senior Bush, Clinton and Bush W. He was able to make deals with US on behalf of the Saudi King Fahd and King Abdullah. He contacted stakeholders of McDonnell Douglas, maker of F-15: contractors, subcontractors, and labor unions. He got the union members, their cousins, related family members, to flood congress with telegrams, telephone calls in support of the sale.

How did he deal with the Israel request? American will sell F-165 fighter planes to Israel as part of the package. Israel was concerned that these weapons may be target for Israel. Bandar assured Israel, that these are only used to defend Saudi for possible Wahhabi or Iran conflict. Finally the vote was 55-44, favoring the sale. Carter was the big hero, with Bandar's help.

To play leverage, King sent Bandar to UK for the Tornado purchase. Thatcher relied: you have a deal, without asking any details. This al-Yamamah deal was worth $86 bn, covering 72 jets, 2 air bases, and service contracts. It was much easier making deal in UK than in US, where it takes months to US congress to agree for the sale.

Soviet Union and Afghanistan were at war. Dealing with Gorbachev, it was very interesting. Gorb said, "You give Afghanistan $200 million worth of arms to fight." Bandar said, "You are wrong, Mr. President. We are paying them $500 million. If you leave Afgan, we will pay you $1 bn." Soviet troops left, amazing!

During the Bush senior era, US sold more F-15, Strike Eagles, etc to Saudis. Bandar is very close to Colin Powell. As the oil price dropped, there was a cash flow payment problem for the Saudi. Bandar simply said, "No problem. Stretch the payment to 20 or 30 years. As the oil price comes up, you will get all the money".

In dealing with Gaddafi, Libya president, Bandar made a case that the 270 Pan Am crash families needed to be taken care of. Gaddafi wanted to get out of the terrorism business, and paid §2.7 bn to the 270 families. It was so easy.

Clinton and Bandar never clicked. As a result, US lost much business with the Saudi.

George W. Bush was so much into the Iraqi war, after 9/11. King Abdullah was only interested in resolving issues between Israel and Palestian Liberation Army (PLO). With Y. Arafat gone, Abbas was not able to fight off Hamas. Bush and Abdullah were never on the same page. Bandar tried everything to no avail. As more youth worshiped Bin Laden, it was difficult to contain the al-Qaeda activities in the kingdom.

As Bush departed from Abdullah, US dependence on Saudi oil decreased to seven percent. At the same time, Saudi got Lukoil, Sinopec, ENI, Repsol YPF to start drilling in the kingdom. China is the new customer for Saudi oil. The world is full of new international business (oil, weapon) players.

For the sales of weapon, and working in US for 30 years, Bandar got $50 bn or more? Then he is the riches person in the world. Forbes just missed him. But with endless oil money, who worries?

As a college professor teaching International Business, I recommend this book to everyone. It is well researched and written.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan, January 21, 2009

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Paul Zerzan (Guam) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia (Hardcover)

This is an excellent source for understanding the recent volatile changes in Saudi-U.S. relations and for insight into where the Saudi-U.S. alliance is headed. It provides cultural, historical and personality insights into recent events in succint detail. It also gives a biographical account of a fascinating person, Prince Bandar, a diplomat par excellence.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars students of foreign policy, April 21, 2010

By 

Wahab Alansari "Seattle, WA" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia (Hardcover)

Anyone who is interested in how foreign policy is made, the push and pull of politics, the power of personality and the role of a single character, and mostly, the 'rootlessness' of policy, will find this book indispensable.