http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001834.php
December 20, 2006 SCOOP: Pragmatic Non-Royal to be Next Saudi Ambassador to the United States For Saudi watchers, some fascinating news has just made its way to The Washington Note. A former staffer at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, ADEL AL-JUBEIR, who comes from a distinguished, yet non-royal family, has risen to such levels of esteem in the estimation of Saudia Arabia's King Abdullah that he has been appointed the next Saudi Ambassador to the United States. This is quite remarkable news. One of the rumored successors to Prince Turki al-Faisal, who recently resigned as Ambassador in Washington with plans to depart at the end of January 2007, was Prince Turki's cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al-Saud, who is currently Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Prince Mohammed succeeded Prince Turki in London after having served as Ambassador to Italy after Turki was assigned to Washington. Many expected Prince Mohammed to move to Washington, but family concerns kept the Ambassador in the United Kingdom. Wanting someone trusted and close -- closer than family to some degree -- King Abdullah has now appointed his personal foreign policy advisor to serve as his Ambassador in Washington. Abdullah met the relatively young Adel al-Jubeir in Washington some years ago -- when he was Director of Communications at the Embassy. Adel's brother, Nail Al-Jubeir, now holds the very same position that Adel once heldo in Saudi Arabia's Washington Embassy. For those following the tension between two former Ambassadors -- Prince Turki al-Faisal and Prince Bandar bin Sultan -- Adel al-Jubeir was once housed in the very same office (no walls) with Rihab Massoud, the close aide to Saudi National Security Advisor and former Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar. Massoud has been depicted by many as the "animater-in-chief" of the escalating tension between the current and immediate past Ambassadors. Massoud, according to sources, was constantly at odds with Adel al-Jubeir and worked to have him demoted and assigned to issues that were considered peripheral in the Embassy. Then Crown Prince Abudullah, after briefly meeting al-Jubeir on a trip to the United States, requested that he become the Crown Prince's foreign policy advisor. The fundamental tension between Prince Turki and Prince Bandar revolves around both the management of political relations with the White House as well as a split in the Saudi government's views on potential US military action against Iran. The King has now appointed someone whose views on the matter are unknown -- but who may have a "complicated past" with one of Bandar's chief retainers. This doesn't necessarily mean that Prince Turki's views are preferable to the King -- but it does mean that the King both wants to hold his cards close to the vest, and doesn't want to allow a royal escalation of tensions to continue by appointing a "successor royal" to the DC Embassy. Adel al-Jubeir's appointment will be formally announced after the U.S. Department of State notifies the Saudi government that al-Jubeir's credentials will be accepted. "No problems are anticipated," according to an insider source. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
