Editing Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud (section)

==Ambassador to the United States (1983–2005)==
On 24 October 1983 Bandar was appointed ambassador to the United States by King Fahd.<ref>{{cite news |author=Al Zuhayyan |first=Abdulrahman |date=7 October 2012 |title=Prince Bandar, Architect of Saudi-US Relations |url=http://www.eurasiareview.com/06102012-prince-bandar-architect-of-saudi-us-relations-oped/ |access-date=7 October 2012 |work=Eurasia Review}}</ref> He replaced Faisal Alhegelan in the post.<ref>{{cite web|title=Saudi Arabia|url=https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Saudi-Arabia.pdf|work=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training|access-date=9 January 2021|page=507|format=Country Readers Series|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109115846/https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Saudi-Arabia.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> During his tenure as ambassador and, before that, the king's personal envoy to Washington, he dealt with five U.S. presidents, ten secretaries of state, eleven national security advisers, sixteen sessions of Congress, and the media.<ref name=ottaway>{{cite news|title=Prince Bandar bin Sultan: Larger-than-life diplomacy|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=6 November 2008|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12551526|access-date=5 December 2010}}</ref> He had extensive influence in the United States. At the pinnacle of his career, he served both "as the King's exclusive messenger and the White House's errand boy".<ref name=ottaway/> For over three decades, he was the face of the [[Saudi Arabia lobby]].<ref name=ottaway/><ref name="MacArthur">{{Cite web |last=MacArthur |first=John R. |date=16 April 2007 |title=The Vast Power of the Saudi Lobby |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2007/04/jrm-pubnote-20070417/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423170247/http://harpers.org/archive/2007/04/jrm-pubnote-20070417 |archive-date=23 April 2007 |access-date= |website=[[Harper's Magazine]]}}</ref> The U.S. is widely seen as one of Saudi Arabia's most essential allies, but different members of the royal family feel different mixtures of trust and suspicion of the United States. Therefore, Prince Bandar's intimate relationships with U.S. leaders and policy-makers are considered to be both the source of his power base in the kingdom, as well as the cause of suspicions within the royal family that he is too close to U.S. political figures.<ref name="Hersh">{{cite magazine |author=Hersh |first=Seymour M. |date=5 March 2007 |title=Is the Administration's new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hersh?printable=true |access-date=3 May 2012 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref>

===Reagan era===
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Prince Bandar.jpg|thumb|right|Prince Bandar with [[U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1986]]
[[File:President George H. W. Bush with Prince Bandar.jpg|thumb|right|Prince Bandar with President [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1991]]
[[File:Prince Bandar bin Sultan with G.W. Bush.jpg|thumb|right|Prince Bandar with President [[George W. Bush]] in 2002]]
During the [[Reagan Era]], he secured the [[US/Saudi AWACS Sale|purchase of AWACs surveillance aircraft]] despite opposition from the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]].<ref name=ottaway/> The $5.5 billion deal was the beginning of a $200 billion deal for the purchase of American weapons for Saudi Arabia, which included a slush fund that the CIA could direct for its off-the-budget projects. For example, at CIA request, Prince Bandar deposited $10 million in a Vatican bank used to meddle in Italian elections by undermining the [[Italian Communist Party]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.amazon.com/House-Bush-Saud-Relationship-Dynasties-ebook/dp/B000FC1BKG|title=House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties|work=Amazon|access-date=23 February 2021}}</ref> The [[Al-Yamamah arms deal]] between Britain and Saudi Arabia included diverting hundreds of millions of British pounds stretching over more than a decade to Prince Bandar through a Saudi Arabian government bank account at [[Riggs Bank]], but some of the money was used to fund secret CIA projects off-the-budget.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Trento |first=Joseph J. |title=Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of America's Private Intelligence Network |publisher=Carroll & Graf |year=2005 |location=New York |pages=102}}</ref> According [[Robert Lacey]] these payments to Prince Bandar amounted to more than a billion British pounds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lacey |first=Robert |title=Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2009 |location=New York |pages=108}}</ref> After the United States rejected an arms order, he arranged the delivery of intermediate-range nuclear-warhead-capable missiles from [[China]].<ref name=ottaway/> This angered the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and the [[United States Department of State]].<ref name=ottaway/> Pursuant to an understanding with the CIA, Prince Bandar provided $32 million to the U.S.-backed [[terrorism|terrorist]] militants, the [[Contras]], through a [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) account, as part of what later became known as the [[Iran-Contra scandal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Draper |first=Theodore |title=A Very Thin Line |publisher=Hill and Wang |year=1991 |location=New York |pages=80–83}}</ref><ref name="New Yorker"/> [[Nancy Reagan]] used him to relay messages to the Cabinet.<ref name="New Yorker"/>

===Clinton era===
Clinton, as governor of Arkansas, had asked him to help pay for the Middle East Studies Center at the [[University of Arkansas]].<ref name="New Yorker"/> In the 1990s, he persuaded Libyan president [[Muammar Gaddafi]] to turn in two suspects allegedly involved in the [[Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103|1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103]]. He privately described Gaddafi as "a [[Jerry Lewis]] trying to be a [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]]".<ref name="New Yorker"/>

In the first autumn of Clinton's presidency, September 1993, Prince Bandar was appointed Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, and he continued the role until the second term of George W. Bush's presidency.<ref>{{cite news|title=Deans of the Diplomatic Corps|date=1 March 2013|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/93591.htm|work=Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State}}</ref>

===Bush presidencies===
Bandar formed close relationships with several American presidents, notably [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[George W. Bush]], his closeness to the latter gaining him the affectionate and controversial nickname 'Bandar Bush'.<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=Baer |first=Robert |title=The Fall of the House of Saud |date=May 2003 |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200305/baer/3 |access-date=5 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007024115/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200305/baer/3 |archive-date=7 October 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> His particularly close relationship with the Bush family was highlighted in [[Michael Moore]]'s documentary ''[[Fahrenheit 9/11]]''. He was reportedly so close to George H. W. Bush that he was often described as a member of the former president's family.<ref name="New Yorker"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Leigh |first=David |last2=Evans |first2=Rob |date=7 June 2007 |title=Prince Bandar |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/07/bae5 |access-date=9 February 2011 |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He advocated [[Saddam Hussein]]'s overthrow in [[Iraq]] in March 2003.<ref name="kingsmessenger">{{cite book |author=Ottoway |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UdIZhiQxGxEC&pg=PA251 |title=The king's messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's tangled |publisher=Walker Publishing Company |year=2008 |isbn=9780802777645 |location=New York |page=251}}</ref> He encouraged military action against Iraq and supported [[Dick Cheney]]'s agenda for "The New Middle East", which called for pro-democracy programs in both Syria and Iran.<ref name="kingsmessenger"/>

===Resignation===
On 26 June 2005, Bandar submitted his resignation as ambassador to the United States for "personal reasons".<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8366298|title=Saudi envoy to U.S. offers resignation|work=[[NBC News]]|date=27 June 2005}}</ref> The official end date of his term was 8 September 2005.<ref name=resaw/> Bandar returned to Saudi Arabia weeks prior to the death of King Fahd, upon which Bandar's father, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, became the nation's crown prince. It was rumored that Bandar's return was timed in order to secure a position in the new government.<ref>{{cite news |author=Leyne |first=Jon |date=1 August 2005 |title=Tensions remain among Saudi royals |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4735505.stm |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

Prince Bandar was succeeded as ambassador by Prince [[Turki bin Faisal|Turki Al Faisal]].<ref name=Kordan/> Nevertheless, even after leaving the ambassadorship, Bandar continued to maintain strong relationships within the Bush administration and to meet with high-ranking White House staff even after Prince Turki took over the post; Turki gave up the ambassador's job after only 18 months.<ref name="Hersh"/>