Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.
Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.
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Yesterday, anti-corruption campaigners began a legal action to overturn the decision to halt the case [effected by Tony Blair’s pressure on attorney general, Lord Goldsmith]. They want the original investigation restarted, arguing the government had caved [in to] blackmail.
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Bandar's payments were published in the Guardian and Switzerland subsequently launched a money-laundering inquiry into the Saudi arms deal. The US department of justice has launched its own investigation under the foreign corrupt practices act into the British money received in the US by Bandar while he was ambassador to Washington.
Prince Bandar yesterday did not contest a US court order preventing him from taking the proceeds of property sales out of the country. The order will stay in place until a lawsuit brought by a group of BAE shareholders is decided.
This comes as no surprise to many who were claiming these threats were happening back when the BAE investigation was news in the summer of 2007, and it also doesn’t mean Bandar won’t be getting arms from the U.S.
January 14, 2008[...]
administration said it notified Congress of its intention to offer the Saudis a controversial package of advanced weaponry as part of a multibillion-dollar deal with Gulf Arab allies.
The deal has raised concerns in Israel and among some of its allies about the military balance of power in the region.
02/13/2008[...]
It’s not often that Washington Republicans will go out of their way to attack the world’s largest oil supplier and Bush administration ally, Saudi Arabia. But that’s precisely what three GOP House members did yesterday in an attempt to prevent a planned $123 million arms sale to the strategically placed monarchy.
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Reps. Frank Wolf (Va.), Zack Wamp (Tenn.) and Sue Myrick (N.C.) wondered yesterday who will subsequently rein in the Saudis. Between the three of them, they managed to take shots at the country’s religious intolerance, its support for Wahhabist maddrassas, and its dissemination of textbooks that encourage violence against non-Muslims. (Did they forget to mention that 15 of the 19 terrorists responsible for the 9-11 attacks were Saudi nationals? They did not.)
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Though a House resolution to overturn the Saudi sale has gained significant support (80 Democrats and 13 Republicans have signed on), it hit a brick wall in the form of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Cal.), who showed no support for blocking the deal. In a complicating twist, Lantos died Monday and will be honored at the Capitol tomorrow.
Wamp acknowledged that the push to kill the sale has no chance of gaining traction so immediately following Lantos’ death. Still, the Tennessee Republican had some words of warning for the country when the deal goes through.
"You know, we’ve tried to buy friends many times in this country’s history," he said. "And you just don’t—you just can’t do that. And I’m afraid economic interests trump our national security interests often.
You think? Surely Bandar Bush shares his bribe booty with the rest of the family. Bribe booty I will remind you that was deposited into his account at the infamously convicted DC money-laundering Riggs Bank where none other than was CEO and president of Riggs Investment.
02/15/08[...]
The U.S. Congress failed to block the sale of 900 satellite-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia by Feb. 14, the date the sale goes through without congressional action. But lawmakers who oppose the deal say they still have a chance to halt it.
The sale can be blocked simply by passing legislation opposing it, said an aide to Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.That means that until the JDAMs are turned over to the Saudis, the sale can be halted, Wamp’s aide said
But to do so, the opponents would need to gain enough support in the House and Senate to override a presidential veto — two-thirds of the members in each house. About 250 House members have opposed the sale at various times since it was proposed last summer. Two-thirds of the House is 287.
Good luck with that.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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