Editing Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud (section)

===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"/>