Poor little old Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan. Such a close friend of the Bush family his nickname is "Bandar Bush". In fact, he's so close to the Bush family that Bush showed him the top secret war plans for the Iraq invasion and nobody really seemed to mind. Even Colin Powell, who saw them after Bandar, let this act of treason go by without really complaining (except to Bob Woodward who reported it in his book.)
Well it looks like since 1985 BAE, the British War Profiteering corporation, has been giving billions to Bandar for his cooperation (as a good customer). Today it came out that they gave him his own state-of-the-art jetliner. Painted in the colors of Bandar's favorite football team the Dalls Cowboys.
I am not making this up.
Here's the story:
BAE bought plane for Saudi prince under arms deal: report
Here's a little quote:
LONDON (AFP) - Britain's defence giant BAE bought Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan an Airbus plane under a multi-billion pound arms deal and is still paying the costs of flying it, the Guardian newspaper said Friday.
The latest allegation met with renewed denials of wrongdoing from BAE, which said it does not pay or receive bribes or "offer other improper inducements," although a spokesman declined to comment on the specific plane charge.
The newspaper last week alleged that BAE transferred secret payments totalling more than one billion pounds (two billion dollars) into accounts controlled by Prince Bandar as part of the Al-Yamamah arms deal signed in 1985.
On Friday the Guardian said the top-of-the-range, four-engine Airbus 340, worth 75 million pounds (150 million dollars), was painted in the silver and blue colours of the Dallas Cowboys, Bandar's favourite American football team.
And here's the doozy. Since these allegations came out, many of us are of course wondering why Bandar would need any money. After all, he's rich as God.
Well, our own LondonYank seems to have figured it out. Connected the dots, if you will. Her take on this is right here, and it's a must-read:
Bandar Bush, Black Ops Bagman
This is like the Unified Field Theory of International Neo-con Politics. I think she nailed it.
Check it out.
(This is a quickie beecause I'm probably gonna be late for work for writing this. I'll try to check in later, but it may not be possible today.)