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'Thank God for the Saudis': ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback
U.S lawmakers encouraged officials in Riyadh to arm Syrian rebels. Now that strategy may have created a monster in the Middle East.
Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, John McCain told CNNs Candy Crowley in January 2014. Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends, the senator said once again a month later, at the Munich Security Conference.
McCain was praising Prince Bandar bin Sultan, then the head of Saudi Arabias intelligence services and a former ambassador to the United States, for supporting forces fighting Bashar al-Assads regime in Syria. McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham had previously met with Bandar to encourage the Saudis to arm Syrian rebel forces.
But shortly after McCains Munich comments, Saudi Arabias King Abdullah relieved Bandar of his Syrian covert-action portfolio, which was then transferred to Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. By mid-April, just two weeks after President Obama met with King Abdullah on March 28, Bandar had also been removed from his position as head of Saudi intelligenceaccording to official government statements, at his own request. Sources close to the royal court told me that, in fact, the king fired Bandar over his handling of the kingdoms Syria policy and other simmering tensions, after initially refusing to accept Bandars offers to resign.
'Thank God for the Saudis': ISIS, Iraq, and the Lessons of Blowback - Steve Clemons - The Atlantic
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