http://www.islamtimes.org/vdciypapzt1a5v2.k8ct.html
Bandar Didepak Raja Abdullah dari Kancah Politik di Suriah?
Islam
Times- "Kami ingin memberitahu Anda bahwa ada beberapa perubahan yang
akan terjadi di Arab Saudi bulan Maret mendatang," kata Ford dan
mencatat, perubahan ini akan mencapai posisi Bandar Bin Sultan dan Saud
al-Faissal.
Bandar, Abdullah, Bush dan Rice
Raja Saudi Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz murka terhadap kinerja Bandar
atas Ketidakmampuan dan kegagalan kepala Intelijen kerajaan itu dalam
mengontrol situasi di Suriah, khususnya dalam mencegah tewasnya ribuan
Takfiri Saudi di negara itu, demikian sumber informasi mengungkapkan
pada Rabu, 22/01/14.
"Kemarahan Raja Saudi kepada Bandar meningkat setelah Menteri Dalam Negeri Mohammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud melaporkan bahwa lebih dari 3.000 warga negara Saudi tewas dalam krisis panjang tiga tahun di Suriah," demikian sebuah sumber informasi dekat dengan raja Saudi dengan kondisi anonimitas melaporkan kepada FNA.
"Setelah mendengar laporan tersebut, Raja Saudi memanggil Bandar dan menyapanya dengan ucapan kemarahan," Saya tidak merasa optimis tentang penanganan Anda mengenai masalah regional sejak awal, dan kematian sejumlah besar warga negara Saudi (Takfiri di Suriah) sangat disesalkan," kata Raja kepada Bandar, menurut sumber itu.
Laporan sebelumnya mengatakan, Arab Saudi telah mengirim sekitar 20.000 sampai 30.000 Takfiri ke Suriah sejak tahun 2011 dan dipimpin langsung oleh Bandar bin Sultan.
Menurut beberapa sumber itu, Bandar bin Sultan sebelumnya dirawat dan menjalani operasi medis karena kondisinya sensitif. Meski saat ini kondisi Bandar pulih, namun dia tidak mampu memimpin para Takfiri Arab di Suriah secara langsung.
Sumber-sumber di Saudi juga mengatakan Bandar tidak hadir dalam beberapa pertemuan wajib mengenai politik dan menyerahkan kasus Suriah kepada Menteri Luar Negeri Saudi Saud al- Faissal.
Dalam sambutannya yang relevan pada hari Senin kemarin, Duta Besar AS untuk Suriah Robert Ford memerintahkan tokoh-tokoh oposisi dukungan asing untuk ambil bagian dalam konferensi Jenewa II dan mencatat, ada banyak perubahan dalam kebijakan Saudi mengenai krisis Suriah.
Pejabat di komite eksekutif dari Koalisi Nasional Suriah (SNC), Nidal Hamade, mengatakan, Ford menyerukan pertemuan darurat dengan para pejabat SNC di Turki, Istanbul dan menegaskan, utusan AS itu mengancam akan memotong dana bagi siapa saja yang tidak menghadiri pertemuan di Jenewa.
"Selain Ford, semua tokoh SNC yang menentang partisipasi dalam Konferensi Jeneva 2 mendukung pertemuan, yaitu Loay Safi, Anass al-Abdeh, Haitham al-Maleh, Burhan Ghalioun, Najeeb al-Ghadban dan Maher Noaimi," kata Hamade.
Dalam pertemuan tersebut, Ford mengatakan kepada SNC, pangeran Saudi Bandar Bin Sultan sedang berlibur panjang di Amerika Serikat karena sakit dan kelelahan psikologis", tambah Hamade mengutip seorang pejabat oposisi Suriah dekat dengan mantan Perdana Menteri Riyad Hijab.
"Kami ingin memberitahu Anda bahwa ada beberapa perubahan yang akan terjadi di Arab Saudi bulan Maret mendatang," kata Ford dan mencatat, perubahan ini akan mencapai posisi Bandar Bin Sultan dan Saud al-Faissal.
Duta Besar AS itu menambahkan, komite Saudi untuk Libanon dan Suriah (didukung oleh Abdulaziz Khoja, Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah al-Saud dan Muqren Bin Abdullah al-Saud) akan diaktifkan dan akan mengambil alih file Libanon dan Suriah dari Bandar.
Ford lebih lanjut mengatakan kepada tokoh-tokoh oposisi Suriah, rencana Bandar atas konflik Suriah yang dimasukkan pada tahun 2012 memiliki dampak bencana pada Suriah dan wilayah. Dan Ini membuat kuat al-Qaeda Suriah dan AS tidak bisa menghadapinya. Untuk itu, Anda harus pergi ke Jeneva 2, ini adalah kepentingan AS," tambahnya. [IT/Onh/Ass]
http://cahyono-adi.blogspot.com/2014/01/petualangan-pangeran-bandar-sudah.html#more
Menurut Ford kepada para tokoh SNC seperti Loay Safi, Anass al-Abdeh, Haitham al-Maleh, Burhan Ghalioun, Najeeb al-Ghadban and Maher Noaimi, petualangan Bandar kini telah berakhir dan perannya sebagai penentu kebijakan di Timur Tengah telah diambil alih oleh sebuan panitia kecil beranggotakan 3 anggota kerajaan Saudi, Abdulaziz Khoja, Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Al Saud dan Muqren Bin Abdullah Al Saud. Bandar dianggap gagal mengendalikan kelompok-kelompok teroris yang kini merajalela di berbagai wilayah konflik di Timur Tengah.
“Rencana Bandar atas konflik Suriah yang dimulai tahun 2012 telah menciptakan bencana di Suriah dan kawasan. Ia telah menjadikana Suriah sebagai markas kekuatan Al Qaida yang tidak bisa dihadapi Amerika,” kata Ford.
Dengan berakhirnya karier Bandar dan dimulainya pendekatan baru Amerika di kawasan, Ford memerintahkan SNC untuk tidak mengulur-ulur keikutsertaannya dalam konperensi Genewa II.
“Karena itu Anda harus berhenti menolak berpartisipasi dalam Genewa II, ini adalah kepentingan Amerika,” kata Ford.
Lebih jauh Ford juga membuka beberapa informasi penting lainnya yang menjadi dasar perubahan sikap politik beberapa negara dan tokoh politik terkemuka di kawasan. Misalnya saja tentang Saad Hariri dan tokoh-tokoh politik Lebanon pro-Amerika lainnya yang tidak lagi menentang keterlibatan Hizbollah dalam pemerintahan. Juga tentang perubahan besar yang akan terjadi di Saudi Arabia, meski Ford tidak menyebutkan detilnya.
“Kami ingin menginformasikan bahwa akan ada banyak perubahan yang terjadi di Saudi pada bulan Maret mendatang,” kata Ford.
Berbagai sumber tanah air menyebutkan bahwa baru-baru ini Pangeran Bandar "Terorist Godfather" bin Sultan telah berkunjung ke Indonesia dan menemui Presiden SBY serta para pejabat keamanan negeri ini dan juga menteri agama. Tujuan utama kedatangannya adalah melakukan kampanye besar-besaran anti-Shiah di Indonesia yang menghabiskan dana ratusan miliar rupiah.(CA/almanar)
Keterangan: tulisan asli dimuat di situs liputanislam.com tgl 20 Januari 2014
"Kemarahan Raja Saudi kepada Bandar meningkat setelah Menteri Dalam Negeri Mohammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud melaporkan bahwa lebih dari 3.000 warga negara Saudi tewas dalam krisis panjang tiga tahun di Suriah," demikian sebuah sumber informasi dekat dengan raja Saudi dengan kondisi anonimitas melaporkan kepada FNA.
"Setelah mendengar laporan tersebut, Raja Saudi memanggil Bandar dan menyapanya dengan ucapan kemarahan," Saya tidak merasa optimis tentang penanganan Anda mengenai masalah regional sejak awal, dan kematian sejumlah besar warga negara Saudi (Takfiri di Suriah) sangat disesalkan," kata Raja kepada Bandar, menurut sumber itu.
Laporan sebelumnya mengatakan, Arab Saudi telah mengirim sekitar 20.000 sampai 30.000 Takfiri ke Suriah sejak tahun 2011 dan dipimpin langsung oleh Bandar bin Sultan.
Menurut beberapa sumber itu, Bandar bin Sultan sebelumnya dirawat dan menjalani operasi medis karena kondisinya sensitif. Meski saat ini kondisi Bandar pulih, namun dia tidak mampu memimpin para Takfiri Arab di Suriah secara langsung.
Sumber-sumber di Saudi juga mengatakan Bandar tidak hadir dalam beberapa pertemuan wajib mengenai politik dan menyerahkan kasus Suriah kepada Menteri Luar Negeri Saudi Saud al- Faissal.
Dalam sambutannya yang relevan pada hari Senin kemarin, Duta Besar AS untuk Suriah Robert Ford memerintahkan tokoh-tokoh oposisi dukungan asing untuk ambil bagian dalam konferensi Jenewa II dan mencatat, ada banyak perubahan dalam kebijakan Saudi mengenai krisis Suriah.
Pejabat di komite eksekutif dari Koalisi Nasional Suriah (SNC), Nidal Hamade, mengatakan, Ford menyerukan pertemuan darurat dengan para pejabat SNC di Turki, Istanbul dan menegaskan, utusan AS itu mengancam akan memotong dana bagi siapa saja yang tidak menghadiri pertemuan di Jenewa.
"Selain Ford, semua tokoh SNC yang menentang partisipasi dalam Konferensi Jeneva 2 mendukung pertemuan, yaitu Loay Safi, Anass al-Abdeh, Haitham al-Maleh, Burhan Ghalioun, Najeeb al-Ghadban dan Maher Noaimi," kata Hamade.
Dalam pertemuan tersebut, Ford mengatakan kepada SNC, pangeran Saudi Bandar Bin Sultan sedang berlibur panjang di Amerika Serikat karena sakit dan kelelahan psikologis", tambah Hamade mengutip seorang pejabat oposisi Suriah dekat dengan mantan Perdana Menteri Riyad Hijab.
"Kami ingin memberitahu Anda bahwa ada beberapa perubahan yang akan terjadi di Arab Saudi bulan Maret mendatang," kata Ford dan mencatat, perubahan ini akan mencapai posisi Bandar Bin Sultan dan Saud al-Faissal.
Duta Besar AS itu menambahkan, komite Saudi untuk Libanon dan Suriah (didukung oleh Abdulaziz Khoja, Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah al-Saud dan Muqren Bin Abdullah al-Saud) akan diaktifkan dan akan mengambil alih file Libanon dan Suriah dari Bandar.
Ford lebih lanjut mengatakan kepada tokoh-tokoh oposisi Suriah, rencana Bandar atas konflik Suriah yang dimasukkan pada tahun 2012 memiliki dampak bencana pada Suriah dan wilayah. Dan Ini membuat kuat al-Qaeda Suriah dan AS tidak bisa menghadapinya. Untuk itu, Anda harus pergi ke Jeneva 2, ini adalah kepentingan AS," tambahnya. [IT/Onh/Ass]
Petualangan Pangeran Bandar Sudah Berakhir
Informasi menarik yang disampaikan oleh Dubes Amerika untuk Suriah John
Ford dalam pertemuannya dengan tokoh-tokoh oposisi Suriah dari kelompok
Syrian National Coalition (SNC) yang digelar di Istanbul Turki baru-baru
ini. Pangeran Bandar bin Sultan, tokoh di balik berbagai aksi kekerasan
yang melanda Timur Tengah saat ini, tengah berlibur panjang di Amerika
untuk menghilangkan stress. Namun lebih dari itu, Bandar juga sudah
disingkirkan dari kekuasaan.
Menurut Ford kepada para tokoh SNC seperti Loay Safi, Anass al-Abdeh, Haitham al-Maleh, Burhan Ghalioun, Najeeb al-Ghadban and Maher Noaimi, petualangan Bandar kini telah berakhir dan perannya sebagai penentu kebijakan di Timur Tengah telah diambil alih oleh sebuan panitia kecil beranggotakan 3 anggota kerajaan Saudi, Abdulaziz Khoja, Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Al Saud dan Muqren Bin Abdullah Al Saud. Bandar dianggap gagal mengendalikan kelompok-kelompok teroris yang kini merajalela di berbagai wilayah konflik di Timur Tengah.
“Rencana Bandar atas konflik Suriah yang dimulai tahun 2012 telah menciptakan bencana di Suriah dan kawasan. Ia telah menjadikana Suriah sebagai markas kekuatan Al Qaida yang tidak bisa dihadapi Amerika,” kata Ford.
Dengan berakhirnya karier Bandar dan dimulainya pendekatan baru Amerika di kawasan, Ford memerintahkan SNC untuk tidak mengulur-ulur keikutsertaannya dalam konperensi Genewa II.
“Karena itu Anda harus berhenti menolak berpartisipasi dalam Genewa II, ini adalah kepentingan Amerika,” kata Ford.
Lebih jauh Ford juga membuka beberapa informasi penting lainnya yang menjadi dasar perubahan sikap politik beberapa negara dan tokoh politik terkemuka di kawasan. Misalnya saja tentang Saad Hariri dan tokoh-tokoh politik Lebanon pro-Amerika lainnya yang tidak lagi menentang keterlibatan Hizbollah dalam pemerintahan. Juga tentang perubahan besar yang akan terjadi di Saudi Arabia, meski Ford tidak menyebutkan detilnya.
“Kami ingin menginformasikan bahwa akan ada banyak perubahan yang terjadi di Saudi pada bulan Maret mendatang,” kata Ford.
Berbagai sumber tanah air menyebutkan bahwa baru-baru ini Pangeran Bandar "Terorist Godfather" bin Sultan telah berkunjung ke Indonesia dan menemui Presiden SBY serta para pejabat keamanan negeri ini dan juga menteri agama. Tujuan utama kedatangannya adalah melakukan kampanye besar-besaran anti-Shiah di Indonesia yang menghabiskan dana ratusan miliar rupiah.(CA/almanar)
Keterangan: tulisan asli dimuat di situs liputanislam.com tgl 20 Januari 2014
Urat Nadi Takfiri dan Saudi
Peristiwa
tragis yang menimpa Suriah, Irak dan Lebanon serta negara-negara Islam
lainnya yang dilanda gelombang aksi ekstrimisme, kekerasan dan terorisme
menunjukkan fenomena baru meningkatnya aksi takfiri di kawasan Barat
dan barat daya Asia. Selama tiga tahun terakhir krisis Suriah
menunjukkan bahwa kaum takfiri bukan pengusung Islam sejati, dan hanya
menggunakan simbol-simbol agama suci ini sebagai kedok demi mencapai
tujuan busuknya. Sebab ajaran Islam menjunjung tinggi keadilan,
perdamaian dan menentang cara-cara kekerasan dan aksi terorisme
sebagaimana yang ditampilkan secara brutal oleh kelompok-kelompok
takfiri seperti Front al-Nusra, Negara Islam Irak dan Syam (DIIS) dan
lainnya.
Pemerintah Arab Saudi sebagai pendukung utama
gerakan takfiri internasional menghadapi jalan buntu atas kebijakannya
menyebarluaskan friksi di kawasan dan kini terang-terangan menunjukkan
dukungannya terhadap kelompok teroris. Berbagai gerakan takfiri
internasional yang melancarkan aksi teror dan kekerasan di Suriah, Irak,
Lebanon, Yaman, Afghanistan dan Pakistan mendapat dukungan langsung
dari rezim Al-Saud.
Kepala intelijen Arab Saudi
Pangeran Bandar bin Sultan selama ini menjadi dalang di balik merebaknya
aksi terorisme di negara-negara kawasan Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara.
Profesor James Petras menyebut Bandar menjadi dalang "Jaringan Teror
Saudi" dengan memasuk keuangan, senjata dan pelatihan bagi kelompok
takfiri internasional. "..data yang dikumpulkan mengenai asal usul
kelompok-kelompok ini dan pembiayaannya, kami sampai pada kesimpulan
bahwa Bandar Bin Sultan menjadi dalang dan pemodal utama dari operasi
ini, " kata Profesor Binghamton University di New York. Bandar yang
pernah menjabat sebagai duta besar Saudi untuk AS dikenal memiliki
hubungan dekat dengan mantan Presiden AS George Bush, dan merupakan
penganjur invasi pimpinan AS ke Irak pada 2003.
Gelontoran dana besar-besaran pemerintah Arab Saudi terhadap
kelompok-kelompok teroris takfiri yang tersebar di berbagai negara
kawasan Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara mungkin saja dalam jangka pendek
bisa melanjutkan aksi kekerasan dan teroris itu. Tapi dalam jangka
panjang kondisi tersebut tidak ada jaminannya akan bertahan lama.
Gerakan takfiri yang menyebar ke berbagai negara dunia telah mencapai
puncaknya.
Negara-negara Barat dan sekutunya di
kawasan menciptakan krisis berdarah di Suriah dan mendukung
kelompok-kelompok takfiri demi mencapai berbagai tujuan. Tujuan pertama
untuk menggulingkan pemerintahan Suriah dan mengeluarkan negara ini dari
front terdepan melawan rezim Zionis Israel. Tujuan kedua memusatkan
berbagai kelompok teroris yang berafiliasi dengan al-Qaeda dan kelompok
takfiri lainnya di Suriah dalam satu koordinasi dengan target
menggulingkan pemerintahan Assad. Namun alih-alih dua tujuan itu
tercapai, kelompok-kelompok teroris takfiri itu saat ini telah menjadi
ancaman bagi keamanan dan stabilitas kawasan Timur tengah dan Afrika
Utara. Tujuan ketiga adalah menggunakan krisis Suriah sebagai cara untuk
mengobarkan friksi mazhab dan persengketaan di tubuh umat Islam
sendiri. Tapi secara bertahap konspirasi ini mulai terbongkar.
Secara pemikiran antarkelompok teroris memiliki warna yang sama
sebagai gerakan takfiri yang mengafirkan kelompok lain dan hanya
mengklaim dirinyalah yang benar, kemudian menggunakan segala cara untuk
membungkam pihak lain. Meski demikian, mereka sendiri tidak bersatu dan
saling bersengketa hingga terjadi pertumpahan darah. Misalnya, Front
al-Nusra yang berafiliasi dengan kelompok teroris al-Qaeda bertempur di
Suriah dengan Negara Islam Irak dan Syam (DIIS). Kedua kelompok takfiri
ini terlibat baku tembak yang menyebabkan puluhan anggota kubu teroris
ini tewas dan sejumlah lainnya luka-luka. DIIS yang mendeklarasi
khilafah Islam di Irak dan Suriah mengklaim kedua negara itu sebagai
"Emirat Islam" yang menjadi bagian dari wilayah kekuasaannya. Sedangkan
Front al-Nushra yang juga mengklaim mendirikan Khilafah di Suriah tidak
menerima klaim DIIS. Meskipun mengklaim mengusung simbol Islam, tapi
sejatinya kedua kelompok teroris ini sangat jauh dan bertentangan dengan
nilai-nilai Islam sendiri. Berbagai kejahatan yang dilakukan kedua
kelompok teroris tersebut bersama faksi takfiri lainnya yang beroperasi
di berbagai negara Muslim seperti Suriah menunjukkan bahwa mereka hanya
menjadikan Islam sebagai kedok semata.
DIIS baru-baru
ini mengeksekusi ratusan anggota kelompok bersenjata rivalnya sesama
teroris dari kelompok lain. Alalam (14/1) melaporkan, anasir DIIS
mengeksekusi Abu Saad al-Khadrami, bersama lebih dari 100 anggota
kelompok Jabhah Islam. Kelompok-kelompok teroris di Suriah khususnya
DIIS, Front al-Nusra dan Jabhah Islam, yang mendapat dukungan dari Arab
Saudi dan Amerika Serikat terlibat bentrokan berdarah sejak 3 Januari
2014. Bentrokan dan pertempuran antar kelompok teroris itu dipicu oleh
perebutan bantuan finansial dan persenjataan dari Barat.
Kelompok-kelompok teroris di Suriah saling berusaha menyingkirkan rival
mereka agar mendapat bantuan dana dan senjata lebih banyak
DIIS yang kalah secara berturut-turut menghadapi pasukan militer Suriah
memusatkan operasinya di provinsi al-Anbar, wilayah barat Irak.
Sebagaimana yang mereka lakukan di Suriah, DIIS melancarkan berbagai
aksi kekerasan di negeri kisah 1001 malam itu. Tapi aksi kelompok
teroris ini menghadapi perlawanan dari pasukan militer dan rakyat Irak.
Di sisi lain, sepak terjang kelompok teroris menyibak topeng yang selama
ini disembunyikan Arab Saudi sebagai pendukung utamanya. Dengan
terbongkarnya tujuan di balik gelombang aksi teror yang dilancarkan
kelompok takfiri itu, muncul reaksi bersama dari berbagai kelompok agama
dan masyarakat serta pemerintah di Suriah,Irak, Lebanon dan negara
Islam lainnya menghadapi gelombang serangan kelompok-kelompok takfiri
yang mengancam keamanan dan stabilitas kawasan Timur tengah dan Afrika
Utara.
Pada saat yang sama, akhir tahun 2013, Majelis
Umum PBB akhirnya mengesahkan resolusi usulan Presiden Iran Hassan
Rohani untuk Dunia Menentang Kekerasan dan Ekstremisme (WAVE). Anggota
Majelis Umum PBB pada hari Rabu (18/12) dengan suara bulat, menyetujui
WAVE, yang menyerukan semua negara di dunia untuk mengecam kekerasan dan
ekstremisme. Berdasarkan resolusi itu, PBB akan mendesak semua negara
anggota untuk bersatu melawan kekerasan dan ekstremisme dalam berbagai
bentuk dan kekerasan sektarian.
Resolusi itu
diharapkan akan mendorong para pemimpin dunia untuk membahas penyebab
ekstremisme dan diskriminasi serta mengembangkan strategi bersama untuk
mengatasinya. Dokumen itu juga akan merekomendasikan promosi
keterlibatan masyarakat dalam melawan ekstremisme dan kekerasan,
termasuk dengan memperkuat hubungan antara masyarakat dan menekankan
kepentingan bersama. Sebelumnya, pada tanggal 24 September, Presiden
Iran menyerukan Dunia Menentang Kekerasan dan Ekstremisme dalam
pidatonya pada sidang ke-68 Majelis Umum PBB di New York.
Pengalaman sejarah menunjukkan bahwa gelombang takfiri dan kekerasan
tidak akan bertahan lama, sebab tidak sesuai dengan fitrah manusia yang
menghendaki keadilan dan perdamaian. Hidupnya gerakan takfiri hanya
bertahan dengan pasokan finansial dan senjata dari sejumlah negara Arab
dan Barat. Tanpa gelontoran dukungan tersebut, kelompok takfiri hanya
menjadi gerakan lemah yang tidak memiliki akar yang kuat dalam
masyarakat.(IRIB Indonesia/PH)
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http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=131074&frid=31&seccatid=91&cid=31&fromval=1
Saudi
Arabia has all the vices and none of the virtues of an oil rich state
like Venezuela. The country is governed by a family dictatorship which
tolerates no opposition and severely punishes human rights advocates and
political dissidents.
Hundreds of billions in oil revenues are
controlled by the royal despotism and fuel speculative investments the
world over. The ruling elite relies on the purchase of Western arms and
US military bases for protection. The wealth of productive nations is
siphoned to enrich the conspicuous consumption of the Saudi ruling
family. The ruling elite finances the most fanatical, retrograde,
misogynist version of Islam, “Wahhabi” a sect of Sunni Islam.
Faced with internal dissent from
repressed subjects and religious minorities, the Saudi dictatorship
perceives threats and dangers from all sides, overseas, secular,
nationalists and Shiite ruling governments; internally, moderate Sunni
nationalists, democrats and feminists; within the royalist cliques,
traditionalists and modernizers. In response it has turned toward
financing, training and arming an international network of Islamic
terrorists who are directed toward attacking, invading and destroying
regimes opposed to the Saudi clerical-dictatorial regime.
The mastermind of the Saudi terror
network is Bandar bin Sultan, who has longstanding and deep ties to high
level US political, military and intelligence officials. Bandar was
trained and indoctrinated at Maxwell Air Force Base and Johns Hopkins
University and served as Saudi Ambassador to the US for over two decades
(1983 – 2005). Between 2005 – 2011 he was Secretary of the National
Security Council and in 2012 he was appointed as Director General of the
Saudi Intelligence Agency. Early on Bandar became deeply immersed in
clandestine terror operations working in liaison with the CIA. Among his
numerous dirty operations with the CIA during the 1980s, Bandar
channeled $32 million dollars to the Nicaragua Contra’s engaged in a
terror campaign to overthrow the revolutionary Sandinista government in
Nicaragua.
During his tenure as ambassador he was
actively engaged in protecting Saudi royalty with ties to the 9/11/01
bombing of the Triple Towers and the Pentagon. Suspicion that Bandar and
his allies in the Royal family had prior knowledge of the bombings by
Saudi terrorists (11 of the 19), is suggested by the sudden flight of
Saudi Royalty following the terrorist act. US intelligence documents
regarding the Saudi-Bandar connection are under Congressional review.
With a wealth of experience and training
in running clandestine terrorist operations, derived from his two
decades of collaboration with the US intelligence agencies, Bandar was
in a position to organize his own global terror network in defense of
the isolated retrograde and vulnerable Saudi despotic monarchy.
Bandar’s Terror Network
Bandar bin Sultan has transformed Saudi
Arabia from an inward-looking, tribal based regime totally dependent on
US military power for its survival, to a major regional center of a vast
terror network, an active financial backer of rightwing military
dictatorships (Egypt) and client regimes (Yemen) and military
interventor in the (Persian) Gulf region (Bahrain). Bandar has financed
and armed a vast array of clandestine terror operations, utilizing
Islamic affiliates of Al-Qaeda, the Saudi controlled Wahhabi sect as
well as numerous other Sunni armed groups. Bandar is a pragmatic
terrorist operator, repressing Al-Qaeda adversaries in Saudi Arabia and
financing Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and
elsewhere. While Bandar was a long-term asset of the US intelligence
services, he has, more recently, taken an independent course where the
regional interests of the despotic state diverge from those of the US.
In the same vein, while Saudi Arabia has a longstanding enmity toward
Israel, Bandar has developed a “covert understanding” and working
relation with the Netanyahu regime, around their common enmity toward
Iran and more specifically in opposition to the interim agreement
between the Obama-Rouhani regime.
Bandar has intervened directly or via
proxies in reshaping political alignments, destabilizing adversaries and
bolstering and expanding the political reach of the Saudi dictatorship
from North Africa to South Asia, from the Russian Caucuses to the Horn
of Africa, sometimes in concert with Western imperialism, other times
projecting Saudi hegemonic aspirations.
North Africa: Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Egypt
Bandar has poured billions of dollars to
bolster the rightwing pro-Islamic regimes in Tunisia and Morocco,
ensuring that the mass pro-democracy movements would be repressed,
marginalized and demobilized. Islamic extremists receiving Saudi
financial support are encouraged to back the “moderate” Islamists in
government by assassinating secular democratic leaders and socialist
trade union leaders in opposition. Bandar’s policies largely coincide
with those of the US and France in Tunisia and Morocco; but not in Libya
and Egypt.
Saudi financial backing for Islamist
terrorists and Al-Qaeda affiliates against Libyan President Gadhafi were
in-line with the NATO air war. However divergences emerged in the
aftermath, the NATO backed client regime made up of neo-liberal ex-pat’s
faced off against Saudi backed Al-Qaeda and Islamist terror gangs and
assorted tribal gunmen and marauders. Bandar funded Islamic extremists
in Libya were bankrolled to extend their military operations to Syria,
where the Saudi regime was organizing a vast military operation to
overthrow the Assad regime. The internecine conflict between NATO and
Saudi armed groups in Libya, spilled over and led to the Islamist murder
of the US Ambassador and CIA operatives in Benghazi. Having overthrown
Gadhafi, Bandar virtually abandoned interest in the ensuing blood bath
and chaos provoked by his armed assets. They in turn, became
self-financing – robbing banks, pilfering oil and emptying local
treasuries – relatively “independent” of Bandar’s control.
In Egypt, Bandar developed, in
coordination with Israel (but for different reasons), a strategy of
undermining the relatively independent, democratically elected Muslim
Brotherhood regime of Mohammed Morsi. Bandar and the Saudi dictatorship
financially backed the military coup and dictatorship of General Sisi.
The US strategy of a power-sharing agreement between the Moslem
Brotherhood and the military regime, combining popular electoral
legitimacy and the pro-Israel-pro NATO military was sabotaged. With a
$15 billion aid package and promises of more to come, Bandar provided
the Egyptian military a financial lifeline and economic immunity from
any international financial reprisals. None were taken of any
consequences. The military crushed the Brotherhood, jailed and
threatened to execute its elected leaders. It outlawed sectors of the
liberal-left opposition which it had used as cannon fodder to justify
its seizure of power. In backing the military coup, Bandar eliminated a
rival, democratically elected Islamic regime which stood in contrast to
the Saudi despotism. He secured a like-minded dictatorial regime in a
key Arab country, even though the military rulers are more secular,
pro-Western, pro-Israel and less anti-Assad than the Brotherhood
regime. Bandar’s success in greasing the wheels for the Egyptian coup
secured a political ally but faces an uncertain future.
The revival of a new anti-dictatorial
mass movement would also target the Saudi connection. Moreover Bandar
undercut and weakened (Persian) Gulf State unity, Qatar had financed the
Morsi regime and was out $5 billion dollars it had extended to the
previous regime.
Bandar’s terror network is most evident
in his long-term large scale financing, arming, training and transport
of tens of thousands of Islamic terrorist “volunteers” from the US,
Europe, the Middle East, the Caucuses, North Africa and elsewhere.
Al-Qaeda terrorists in Saudi Arabia became “martyrs of Islam” in Syria.
Dozens of Islamic armed gangs in Syria competed for Saudi arms and
funds. Training bases with US and European instructors and Saudi
financing were established in Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey. Bandar
financed the major rebel Islamic terrorist armed group, the Islamic
State of Iraq and the Levant, for cross border operations.
"With Hezbollah supporting Assad,"
Bandar directed money and arms to the Abdullah Azzam Brigades in Lebanon
to bomb South Beirut, the Iranian embassy and Tripoli. Bandar directed
$3 billion to the Lebanese military with the idea of fomenting a new
civil war between it and Hezbollah. In co-ordination with France and the
US, but with far greater funding and greater latitude to recruit
Islamic terrorists, Bandar assumed the leading role and became the
principle director of a three front military and diplomatic offensive
against Syria, Hezbollah and Iran. For Bandar, an Islamic takeover in
Syria would lead to an Islamic Syrian invasion in support of Al-Qaeda in
Lebanon to defeat Hezbollah in hopes of isolating Iran. Tehran would
then become the target of a Saudi-Israeli-US offensive. Bandar’s
strategy is more fantasy than reality.
Bandar Diverges from Washington, the Offensive in Iraq and Iran
Saudi Arabia has been an extremely
useful but sometimes out of control client of Washington. This is
especially the case since Bandar has taken over as Intelligence chief, a
long-time asset of the CIA he has also, at times, taken the liberty to
extract favors for his services, especially when those favors enhance
his upward advance within the Saudi power structure. Hence, for example,
his ability to secure AWACs despite AIPAC opposition earned him merit
points. As did Bandar’s ability to secure the departure of several
hundred Saudi royalty with ties to the 9/11 bombers, despite a high
level national security lockdown in the aftermath of the bombing.
While there were episodic transgressions
in the past, Bandar moved on to more serious divergences from US
policy. He went ahead, building his own terror network, directed toward
maximizing Saudi hegemony – even where it conflicted with US proxies,
clients and clandestine operatives.
"While the US is committed to backing
the rightwing Maliki regime in Iraq," Bandar is providing political,
military and financial backing to the Sunni terrorist “Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria”. When the US negotiated the “interim agreement” with
Iran Bandar voiced his opposition and “bought” support. Saudi signed
off on a billion dollar arms agreement during French President
Hollande’s visit, in exchange for greater sanctions on Iran. Bandar also
expressed support for Israel’s use of the Zionist power configuration
to influence the Congress, to sabotage US negotiations with Iran.
Bandar has moved beyond his original
submission to US intelligence handlers. His close ties with past and
present US and EU presidents and political influentials have encouraged
him to engage in “Big Power adventures”. He met with Russian President
Putin to convince him to drop his support for Syria, offering a carrot
or a stick, a multi-billion dollar arms sale for compliance and a threat
to unleash Chechnyian terrorists to undermine the Sochi Olympics. He
has turned Erdogan from a NATO ally supporting moderate armed opponents
to Bashar Assad, into embracing the Saudi backed Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria, a terrorist Al-Qaeda affiliate. Bandar has “overlooked”
Erdogan’s “opportunist” efforts to sign off oil deals with Iran and
Iraq, his continuing military arrangements with NATO and his past
backing of the defunct Morsi regime in Egypt, in order to secure
Erdogan’s support for the easy transit of large numbers of Saudi trained
terrorists to Syria and probably Lebanon.
Bandar has strengthened ties with the
armed Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, arming and financing their
armed resistance against the US, as well as offering the US a site for a
negotiated departure.
Bandar is probably supporting and arming
Uighur Muslim terrorists in western China, and Chechens and Caucasian
Islamic terrorists in Russia, even as the Saudis expand their oil
agreements with China and cooperate with Russia’s Gazprom.
The only region where the Saudis have
exercised direct military intervention is in the (Persian) Gulf
min-state of Bahrain, where Saudi troops crushed the pro-democracy
movement challenging the local despot.
Bandar: Global Terror on Dubious Domestic Foundations
Bandar has embarked on an extraordinary
transformation of Saudi foreign policy and enhanced its global
influence. All to the worst. Like Israel, when a reactionary ruler comes
to power and overturns the democratic order, Saudi arrives on the scene
with bags of dollars to buttress the regime. Whenever an Islamic terror
network emerges to subvert a nationalist, secular or Shiite regime, it
can count on Saudi funds and arms. What some Western scribes
euphemistically describe as “tenuous effort to liberalize and modernize”
the retrograde Saudi regime, is really a military upgrade of its
overseas terrorist activity. Bandar uses modern techniques of terror to
impose the Saudi model of reactionary rule on neighboring and distant
regimes with Muslim populations.
The problem is that Bandar’s
“adventurous” large scale overseas operations conflict with some of the
ruling Royal family’s “introspective” style of rulership. They want to
be left alone to accrue hundreds of billions collecting petrol rents, to
invest in high-end properties around the world, and to quietly
patronize high end call girls in Washington, London and Beirut –while
posing as pious guardians of Medina, Mecca and the Holy sites. So far
Bandar has not been challenged, because he has been careful to pay his
respects to the ruling monarch and his inner circle. He has bought and
brought Western and Eastern prime ministers, presidents and other
respectable notable to Riyadh to sign deals and pay compliments to the
delight of the reigning despot. Yet his solicitous behavior to overseas
Al-Qaeda operations, his encouraging Saudi extremists to go overseas and
engage in terrorist wars, disturbs monarchical circles. They worry that
Saudis trained, armed and knowledgeable terrorists – dubbed as “holy
warriors” – may return from Syria, Russia and Iraq and bomb the King's
palaces. Moreover, oversea regimes targeted by Bandar’s terror network
may retaliate, Russia or Iran, Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Iraqis
may just sponsor their own instruments of retaliation. Despite the
hundreds of billions spent on arms purchases, the Saudi regime is very
vulnerable on all levels. Apart from tribal legions, the billionaire
elite have little popular support and even less legitimacy. It depends
on overseas migrant labor, foreign “experts” and US military forces. The
Saudi elite is also despised by the most religious of the Wahhabi
clergy for allowing “infidels” on sacred terrain. While Bandar extends
Saudi power abroad, the domestic foundations of rule are narrowing.
While he defies US policymakers in Syria, Iran and Afghanistan, the
regime depends on the US Air Force and Seventh Fleet to protect it from a
growing array of adversarial regimes.
Bandar, with his inflated ego, may
believe that he is a “Saladin” building a new Islamic empire, but in
reality, by waving one finger his patron monarch can lead to his rapid
dismissal. One too many provocative civilian bombings by his Islamic
terrorist beneficiaries can lead to an international crises leading to
Saudi Arabia becoming the target of world opprobrium.
In reality, Bandar bin Sultan is the
protégé and successor of Bin Laden; he has deepened and systematized
global terrorism. Bandar’s terror network has murdered far more
innocent victims than Bin Laden. That, of course, is to be expected;
after all he has billions of dollars from the Saudi treasury, training
from the CIA and the handshake of Netanyahu!
By Prof. James Petras
This article has originally appeared on ‘Global Research’.
Iran says free elections best solution for Syria, as Geneva II enters second day
Updated at 2:15pm: Iranian President Hassan Rohani said Thursday that fair elections would be the best way of ending Syria's civil war.
"The best solution is to organize free and fair elections inside
Syria," Rohani told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "No
outside party or power should decide for the Syrian people and Syria as a
country."
"No outside party or power should decide for the Syrian people and Syria as a country."
Describing a conflict that has been raging for nearly three years as a
"major catastrophe", Rohani said Iran was deeply concerned by the
influx of foreign fighters he described as "terrorists" into Syria.
"Millions of innocent people have been killed, maimed or made
homeless - it is a miserable situation and very sad," Rouhani said.
"All of us should work together to push terrorists out of Syria and
advise the countries who support them that this is not their own best
interests - their next stop will be their own countries."
The World Economic Forum is taking place only several kilometers away
from the “Geneva II” peace talks in Montreux, in which Syrian
government and opposition figures meet for the first time since the
beginning of the almost three-year old civil war.
UN efforts to involve Iran in the Syria peace talks foundered as a
result of objections from the United States and the opposition.
The Geneva II peace conference opened on Wednesday, with delegations
on either side of the conflict exchanging accusations of terrorism and
torture.
UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi meets Syria's warring sides behind closed
doors Thursday to gauge if they are willing to sit down face-to-face.
Brahimi will hold separate meetings with delegations from President
Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition before full talks resume
in Geneva on Friday.
Expectations are very low for a breakthrough at the conference, but
diplomats believe that simply bringing the two sides together for the
first time is a mark of some progress and could be an important first
step.
With no one ready for serious concessions, world powers will be
looking for short-term deals to keep the process moving forward,
including on localized ceasefires, freer humanitarian access and
prisoner exchanges.
Brahimi said he "had indications" from both sides that they were willing discuss these issues.
The UN humanitarian chief said the international body hoped political
talks between the warring sides in Syria would clinch local ceasefires
to allow vital food and medicines to reach millions of civilians.
"I have discussed this with Mr. Brahimi and he'll continue to push
this. Because political negotiations can take a very long time. And as
we saw yesterday, there are big differences between the parties,"
Valerie Amos said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.
"But if we are able to get a major push on getting into these communities, it would make a significant difference."
She said it was crucial to gain access to some 250,000 people trapped
in besieged communities, many of them in Aleppo, Homs and near
Damascus, who have been out of reach for many months. Some say they have
been reduced to eating grass in order to avoid starvation.
Another 2.5 million people are in "hard-to-reach" areas, having received UN relief supplies just once or so, Amos said.
"The key issue for us is that control of communities shifts all the
time. We want to really take advantage when there is a sense we can move
very quickly to try to do that," she said, adding that she had met with
an opposition delegate in Montreux.
Amos, who submitted a confidential written brief to the UN Security
Council last Friday, said that there had been little improvement since
world powers called unanimously in October for both sides to grant
greater access for aid workers and convoys.
"I indicated to the Security Council, as I have done before, that we
have made some modest progress on administrative hurdles that we have
faced, things like visas for staff and arrangements in place in terms of
clearance (for convoys)," Amos said.
"But on the really big-ticket items, like protection of civilians,
demilitarization of schools and hospitals, access to besieged and
hard-to-reach communities, there has been little or no progress at all,"
she said.
Hadi Al-Bahra, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition's
delegation, said they would be meeting with Brahimi in Geneva to work
out the details of Friday's talks.
Bahra told AFP the opposition was feeling confident after the
government delegation adopted an aggressive tone for the start of the
conference.
"What happened yesterday was clearly in our interest. We have heard
very positive feedback from inside Syria and it is the first time we've
felt so much support from Syrians for the Coalition," Bahra said.
UN officials were forced to ask Syrian journalists to calm down
during Ban's closing press conference on Wednesday, after they loudly
complained of not being allowed to ask questions.
The opposition arrived in Switzerland with a sole aim - toppling
Assad - while the government says any talk of removing the Syrian leader
is a "red line" it will not cross.
(AFP, Al-Akhbar)
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