Dubai: Known for his ‘hawkish’ policies, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan was appointed in July 2012 as Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief.
Before that, he had vanished from the public eye after being recalled as Saudi’s ambassador to the US in 2005.
In Washington, Bandar was a something of a permanent fixture during his 22 year tenure as ambassador, forging an extensive network of ties with American politicians.
He is known to have developed a very close relationship with both Bush presidents, even acquiring the nickname ‘Bandar Bush’.
He was ambassador during the 1990 Gulf War, the September 11 attacks and the US invasion of Iraq.
His upbringing in Saudi Arabia was not the typical upbringing for a Saudi prince.
Self made
His mother was a lowly commoner and he grew up in his father’s palace in a humble Riyadh neighborhood. Even his accession to being a career diplomat was not the typical appointment through royal connections.
He worked his way up, first serving in the air force. During his training sessions in the US, Bandar’s affinity for the United States grew.
The "peasant prince", as he called himself, demonstrated early on his abilities to network and forge relationships with US officials, which led to his appointment as ambassador to the US by his uncle King Fahad in 1983.
During his tenure, he negotiated huge arms deals for the Kingdom.
He is said to have advocated links with Israel, seeing it as a lesser threat than Iran, which in his opinion was Saudi Arabia’s biggest threat.
When Prince Bandar took over the Syria file in 2012 as Intelligence Chief, he organised the visit of Manaf Tlass, the Sunni general and Al Assad associate who defected from Syria in July.
He was even rumoured to have been killed in a Riyadh explosion, as reported by Iranian and Syria state media, purportedly in retaliation for the assassination of four senior security chiefs of the Syrian regime.
He was a strong advocate for US intervention in Syria and arming the rebels against Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
Besides his latest position as intellgience chief, he had many career achievements during his tenure as ambassador to the US.
In 1990, during the Gulf War, he convinced Russia not to oppose a UN resolution to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait following Saddam Hussain’s invasion.
He was a close confidant of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, who was assassinated in a Beirut car bomb.
Prince Bandar was heavily involved with efforts in Lebanon following his assassination, which ultimately led Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon following what was known as the ‘Cedar Revolution’.
Prince Bandar has been removed from his post "at his own request", Saudi state media reported on Tuesday.
