Turki bin Faisal Al Saud

Turki bin Faisal Al Saud (born February 15, 1945), most commonly referenced as Turki al Faisal is the former Director General of Saudi Arabia's Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah, the Kingdom's former ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from July 2005 until December 11, 2006. [cite web | author=Reuters | title=Embassy official: Saudi ambassador to U.S. resigns | publisher=cnn.com | year= 2006 | url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/12/usa.saudi.reut/index.html | accessdate=2006-12-12] He is the youngest son of the late King Faisal by Princess Effat Al-Thuniyyan" [http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?Language=en&id=1061147] ". Kuna news service. Retrieved 19 July, 2008.] , brother of foreign minister, Saud al Faisal, and a nephew of the present King Abdullah

Prince Turki studied at The Lawrenceville School, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in the class of 1968 (where he was a classmate of Bill ClintonWright, Lawrence, "", Knopf, August, 2006] ), and at Princeton, Cambridge, and the University of London, where he studied Islamic law and jurisprudence.

Turki began his political career as deputy to his uncle, Kamal Adham, and then, his successor as the head of Saudi Arabia's Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah (General Intelligence Directorate), a position he held for 25 years—from 1977 until shortly before the Sept 11th attacks. In this position, he had an important role in the military operation to remove the terrorists who had taken hostages in the Masjid al-Haram (Sacred Mosque) at Mecca in November–December of 1979Wright, Lawrence, "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11", Knopf, August, 2006] . He was replaced shortly after 9/11 by his uncle, Prince Nawaf.

In 1993, Turki helped mediate between warring factions in Afghanistan. In 2002, Turki was named ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland. In July 2005 it was announced that he would succeed Bandar bin Sultan as Saudi ambassador to the United States. He was replaced as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland by his cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.

He is married to Princess Nouf bint Fahd bin Khalid Al Saud, with whom he has six children: Faisal, Nura, Abdul Aziz, Saud, Mishail and Mudhi.

Alleged Relationship with al-Qaeda

Turki has been controversially associated with the terrorist group al-Qaeda. As head of Saudi intelligence, he met with Osama bin Laden several times during the 1980s hoping to convince him to lead an army in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Saudi intelligence joined Pakistan's intelligence service and the CIA in funding the mujahideen.

Turki's relationship with bin Laden and al-Qaeda after bin Laden became an official enemy of Saudi Arabia and lost his Saudi citizenship is unclear. A continued connection to bin Laden was claimed in an article by Paris Match magazine. In 2002, Turki was named in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit by the families of September 11 victims, alleging that he and other Saudi princes, banks, and charities may have funded the terrorists involved in the attack. His involvement was also strongly implied in the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 911. A reporter for the Baltimore Chronicle claimed he was flown out of the United States shortly after the terrorist attacks, but the claim disappeared from later versions of the article.

Turki maintains that he has had no contact with bin Laden since shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. He claims to have secretly negotiated with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in 1998 in an attempt to have bin Laden extradited to Saudi Arabia, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. In a November 2001 interview, Turki expressed support for the US operation in Afghanistan against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. In December 2004, Turki was awarded libel damages from Paris Match for its claims that he was connected to the attacks. In 2005, a US federal judge ruled that Saudi officials including Turki were immune from the lawsuit. Turki has severely criticized al-Qaeda, calling it an "evil cult."00000

Ambassador to the United States

Turki spent much of his time as ambassador to the United States traveling around the country (he visited 37 states). He abruptly resigned his post in early December 2006. [http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20061227-082153-2822r] de Borchgrave, Arnaud, "Analysis: Arabian Medicis", article at UPI Web site, dated December 27, 2006, accessed December 29, 2006]

According to an analysis by Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large for United Press International, "Turki's abrupt exit from Washington, without the usual round of diplomatic farewells, was bound to send the rumor mill into overdrive. Which is precisely what Turki intended."

Turki strongly advocated that the United States engage in direct talks with Iran over its differences concerning Iran's involvement in Iraq, its nuclear program and support of Hezbollah in Lebanon, but other high-ranking Saudi officials, including Turki's predecessor as ambassador, Prince Bandar, were in favor of a tougher stance, believing that, ultimately, military action would probably be required to set back Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program.

Turki was angered that when his own king had asked Vice President Dick Cheney to meet at short notice in Riyadh, Turki was not invited to attend — an unusual omission for Saudi summit meetings. In addition, Turki's brother — the ailing, longtime Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, (born 1940) — did not write the post-summit briefing for Turki; Prince Bandar did.

Quotes

* "No matter how exalted the aims of the U.S. in the [Iraq] war, in the final analysis it was a colonial war very similar to the wars conducted by the ex-colonial powers when they went out to conquer the rest of the world."

* "I challenge the Palestinian people to give up the armed struggle and follow the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King by engaging in civil disobedience instead of violence, even in the face of Israeli guns. Violence is the weapon of the weak; non-violence is the weapon of the strong."
* "Saudi Arabia has worked with the United States for the past 70 years. Both countries have benefited from this enduring partnership. Remember that we face the same threat: Bin Ladin targeted Saudi Arabia before he targeted America. Al-Qa'ida has thousands of followers from more than 60 countries, including those of many U.S. allies. That he chose 15 Saudis for his murderous gang, many of whom, he boasted, did not even know the ultimate goal of their mission, can only be explained as an attempt to disrupt the close relationship between our two countries.... There are those in America who condemn all Saudi Arabians as uncivilized, close-minded and barbaric. But such blanket accusations are not worthy of the American people.... Let us deny extremists the victory of undermining our partnership. Instead, let us remain strong, and, whatever shortcomings we see in each other, let us confront them and overcome them together in a spirit of mutual respect and openness."
* It has become very fashionable for (U.S.) politicians to use the word 'energy independence' or 'independence from foreign oil', and that is basically a political canard politicians and technocrats use...........There is no way that people, whether in the United States or in the world, other countries that consume oil, would simply give up using oil in the next few decades at least, if not more than that.

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4700589.stm Profile: Prince Turki al-Faisal] from BBC News
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/turki-bin-faisal.htm Information] from Global Security
* [http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20050728-081358-7342r.htm Saudis' James Bond and George Smiley] by Arnaud de Borchgrave
* [http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=136 Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US, Prince Turki al-Faisal, addresses the World Affairs Council of Northern California] , March 23, 2006 (video)

Persondata
NAME=Saud, Turki bin Faisal al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Turki bin Faisal (alternate form)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Saudi politician
DATE OF BIRTH=February 15, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH=Saudi Arabia
DATE OF DEATH=living
PLACE OF DEATH=