The King's Messenger: Prince Bandar bin Sultan and America's Tangled Relationship with Saudi Arabia

Though Prince Bandar bin Sultan is the titular subject of this engrossing book, its real focus is the “special relationship” that developed between the United States and Saudi Arabia in the period following WWII, which began to unravel during the administration of George W. Bush. While pursuing a career in the Saudi Royal Air Force, Bandar emerged as a crucial broker of this diplomatic relationship, inadvertently falling into the role of messenger between King Fahd and President Jimmy Carter. Bandar retained this central role through the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton years, before finally leaving Washington in the summer of 2005. Ottaway (Chained Together ) draws on interviews with many of the book's principals in writing this history, including Bandar himself, who proves a compelling figure but an unreliable source (the author makes special note of his tendency toward embellishment and self-aggrandizement). Aside from extremely brief forays into Bandar's personal life, Ottaway remains most interested in the unique political role the prince played, using Bandar's story to relay a rich, nuanced history of recent U.S.-Saudi relations. (Nov.)