Saudi ambassador Prince Turki al-Faisal, an informed source told Daily Times, was fired by King Abduallah for having divulged a most sensitive piece of information to one of his advisers who spilled it out on the pages of the Washington Post.Nawaf Obaid, an adviser to the Saudi ambassador, wrote in the Post on November 29 that if the carnage of Sunnis continues in Iraq and the Americans left in a hurry, Saudi Arabia may be forced to intervene militarily. He warned of “massive Saudi intervention” to support Sunni Arab groups if the US-led coalition were to leave Iraq abruptly. He added, “It would be impossible to ensure that Saudi-funded militias wouldn’t attack US troops ... Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks - it could spark a regional war. So be it: the consequences of inaction are far worse.”
King Abdullah was said to be furious when the article appeared. The threat of Saudi intervention in Iraq may have been nothing more than a ruse to pressure the Americans to do more to put a stop to the carnage in Iraq. Why the ambassador shared this information with Obaid is a mystery. The Saudi government immediately repudiated what Obaid had written. He was also fired from his adviser’s job. The comment from Amassador Turki was, “We felt that we could add more credibility to his claims as an independent contractor by terminating our consultancy agreement with him.”
According to the Daily Times source, anti-reform elements in the royal family oppose King Abdullah’s efforts for peace in Iraq. Obaid’s Post article was a trial balloon. It is anyone’s guess if Prince Turki was a victim of Obaid’s intrigues, or a participant. The ambassador’s publicly stated reason for leaving, namely that he wants to spend more time with his family, no one takes seriously because it is one of the most overused clichés in such situations.
Obaid has been associated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and most recently, was affiliated with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. In 1999, he published a study of Wahhabism in the Middle East Quarterly. He wrote, “American analysts have underestimated, overlooked, or misunderstood the nature, strength, and goals of the Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia.
This led to a failure to predict the oil embargo, the ferocity of anti-American sentiments after the Kuwait war, and to understand what the Taliban would become.” He later began to downplay the Wahabi threat in his appearances on cable TV. Prince Turki who came to Washington 15 months ago, appointed Obaid as his private security and energy adviser.