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Feeding at Saudis' Trough, Former U.S. Envoys Lobby for Kingdom

(San Francisco Chronicle) Jeff Stein - In August 2002, a congressional delegation was traveling around Saudi Arabia, home to 15 of the 19 al-Qaeda hijackers who less than a year earlier had launched the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), a former FBI agent, asked the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Robert Jordan, in light of how the Sept. 11 attacks had revealed the Saudis' role in nurturing al-Qaeda-connected charities and religious schools, whether Jordan, a big-time Houston oil and gas lawyer, would be the first U.S. ambassador to not go to work for the Saudis after leaving his post. Jordan in 2003 joined the long list of U.S. ambassadors and other former American officials working directly or indirectly for the Saudi royal family. They are sprinkled all over Washington, particularly in such well-known Saudi-supported think tanks as the Middle East Institute. Two former American ambassadors to Saudi Arabia lead the institute - Wyche Fowler Jr., chairman, and Edward Walker, president. Former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and deputy assistant secretary for the Near East David Mack is the institute's vice president. Also at the institute is Richard Parker, former ambassador to Algeria, Lebanon, and Morocco, and Michael Sterner, former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and deputy assistant secretary of Near Eastern Affairs. Chas. Freeman Jr., another former U.S. ambassador to the kingdom, is president of the Saudi-backed Middle East Policy Council. Another ambassador, Walter Cutler, leads the Saudi-backed Meridian International Center.
2006-02-17 00:00:00
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