UAE & Saudi Navies In Sea Battle Over Disputed Waters

Two US allies come to blows in the Persian Gulf, shaking the confidence of diplomats :

The United Arab Emirates navy is thought to have opened fire on a small patrol vessel from Saudi Arabia after a dispute over water boundaries.

According to one report, two Saudi sailors were injured in the alleged bombardment.

The Saudi vessel was forced to surrender, and its sailors were delivered into custody in Abu Dhabi for several days, before being released and handed over to the Saudi embassy earlier this week.

The incident has shocked diplomats who hope the countries, both key American allies, will help implement the West's strategy to constrain Iran's nuclear and military ambitions.

The clash happened in disputed waters between the coasts of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and the peninsula on which the gas-rich state of Qatar sits.

....the UAE, despite its small size, is the fourth largest purchaser of weaponry on the international market in the world.

Western governments are exasperated that the two countries are unable to co-operate because of a series of long-running border disputes, largely influenced by oil reserves.

Saudi Arabia is the world's largest oil producer, while Abu Dhabi, though ranking only number four in OPEC, is by some counts the richest city per head of population in the world.

The Gulf is the shipping route for 40 per cent of the world's oil trade.

Saudis Claim To Have Broken 172 Man Strong Terror Rings, Oil Prices Rise 2%

US Captures 'Al Qaeda', and 'July 7 Attack Leader' In Iraq

If true, the Americans and the Saudis can claim two huge successes today in fighting the 'War on Terror', striking hard at core Al Qaeda jihadists.

The Saudis are claiming they have broken up seven terror rings, detaining 172 suspects, and seizing hundreds of weapons, boxes of explosives and more than $5 million in cash.

But Saudi officials didn't tell local media that there were terrorist plots to fly airliners into oil refineries, as were the headlines in the Western media. Some UK media claim that a Saudi official statement confirmed there were plots to fly hijacked airliners into oil installations, but such claims didn't reach most Gulf and Arab media.

Such claims were mostly made by 'terror experts' interviewed on CNN and Fox News. Nor did the arrests take place on the same day, or even in the same week. The Saudis haven't revealed over what period of time the raids and arrests were made, only that the arrests took place "at various and successive times".

Not only have the Saudis scored extremely positive worldwide media coverage for the breaking up of the terror rings and the arrests, that they chose to announce the arrests all at once, while unveiling the arms, explosives and cash caches all but guaranteed the news would impact where it counts the most : on the price of the Saudis main export, oil.

As news of the terror arrests hit the headlines, the price of a barrel of oil quickly rose by more than 2%. For the Saudis this meant a net gain of hundreds of millions of dollars, at a time when oil prices were slowly falling.

From Gulf Daily News :

The detainees were planning to carry out suicide attacks against "public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones", the Interior Ministry said yesterday.

"They had reached an advance stage of readiness and what remained only was to set the zero hour for their attacks," spokesman Brigadier Mansour Al Turki said.

Brig Al Turki would said the arrests occurred "at various and successive times".

The militants were detained in separate waves, he said, with one group of arrested confessing and subsequently leading security officials to the next group, as well as weapons' caches.

The ministry did not say the militants would fly aircraft into oil refineries, as 9/11 hijackers flew planes into buildings in New York and Washington, but it said some detainees had been "sent to other countries to study flying in preparation for using them to carry out terrorist attacks inside the kingdom".

The militants also planned to storm prisons to free the inmates.

British and American authorities, meanwhile, appear to be confused and surprised by the scale of the arrests and the plots uncovered :

The unprecedented scale of the arrests seemed to undermine official Saudi claims that jihadi terrorism had been all but eradicated by effective intelligence and security, a powerful publicity campaign and inducements to terrorists to repent. Some believed the announcement was intended to signal that vigilant security forces were safeguarding the world's largest oil producer and exporter.

The Saudi state TV channel al-Akhbariya broadcast footage of weapons discovered buried in the desert. These included AK-47 and other rifles, plastic explosives, magazines, and handguns wrapped in plastic sheeting. It showed investigators smashing tiled floors with hammers to uncover pipes containing weapons. In one scene, an official upends a pipe and bullets and packets of explosives spill out.

Prince Nayef, the powerful Saudi interior minister, signalled last week that an important security announcement was imminent. But western diplomats said yesterday they were puzzled by some of the details that had been released.

The large number suggested that some of those arrested were likely to have been neighbours, acquaintances and contacts of a much smaller number of militants. It also seemed likely the seven cells had been rounded up separately but announced simultaneously to make a greater public impact.

According to official figures, about 144 foreigners and Saudis, including security personnel, and 120 militants have died in attacks and clashes with police since May 2003, when al-Qaida suicide bombers hit western housing compounds in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, the Americans are pumping the arrest of one Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, once a general in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. They claim he was detained as he tried to cross into Iraq from Iran. It's not a new arrest. He was detained by the CIA last year and was transferred a few days ago to Guantanamo Bay.

What's new is what the Americans are claiming al-Iraqi is responsible for :

The al-Qaeda leader who is thought to have devised the plan for the July 7 suicide bombings in London and an array of terrorist plots against Britain has been captured by the Americans.

Abd al-Hadi, 45, was regarded as one of al-Qaeda’s most experienced, most intelligent and most ruthless commanders. Senior counter-terrorism sources told The Times that he was the man who, in 2003, identified Britain as the key battleground for exporting al-Qaeda’s holy war to Europe.

Abd al-Hadi recognised the potential for turning young Muslim radicals from Britain who wanted to become mujahidin in Afghanistan or Iraq into terrorists who could carry out attacks in their home country. He realised that their knowledge of Britain, possession of British passports and natural command of English made them ideal recruits. After al-Qaeda restructured its operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas he sought out young Britons for instruction at training camps. In late 2004 Abd al-Hadi met Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, from Leeds, at a militant camp in Pakistan and, in the words of a senior investigator, “retasked them” to become suicide bombers.

They were sent back to Britain where they led the terrorist cell that carried out the 7/7 bombings, killing 52 Tube and bus passengers.

Pakistani intelligence sources said that Abd al-Hadi was also in contact with Rachid Rauf, a Birmingham man now in prison in Pakistan and alleged to be a key figure in last summer’s alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners in mid-flight.

Sources said last night that few figures had been more important at the centre of the revived al-Qaeda. Abd al-Hadi is credited with forming its alliance with the insurgency in Iraq.

US officials said he was associated with leaders of other extremist groups allied with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the Taleban.

A far more interesting report comes from journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad :

Abd al-Hadi Al-Iraqi was initially the treasurer of Al-Qaeda and was based in South Waziristan and North Waziristan. Hadi used to supply money to Al-Qaeda operatives for international operations. In 2003, on the instructions of network number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri, he was part of an operational plan to kill General Pervez Musharraf but his role was mainly supplying money to the operatives involved in the plot.

Well-placed sources in Al-Qaeda had told this correspondent many months ago about the migration of Abd al-Hadi Al-Iraqi from Afghanistan to Iraq. Therefore it seems difficult that he would be arrested recently while crossing into the border of Iraq, as his presence in Iraq has already been confirmed.

Abd-al-Hadi compiled a detailed account in a book which reflects al-Qaeda's tactical ideas and deals with chemical weapons and explosives and their application, such as planting them on bridges and at strategic installations to get optimum results. In the circle of al-Qaeda the book is referred to as Encyclopedia of Jehad.

It is intended to equip international operations with clear tactical ideas on how upcoming battles should be fought. The encyclopedia is available in jihadi circles in book form as well as on compact disc. It was written in Arabic and translated into Pashto, Urdu and English.

Abd al Hadi moved out of Waziristan after some major divergences emerged between Al-Qaeda and the Taliban over tactical issues, in particular the Pakistan Taliban’s non-aggression pact with the Pakistan authorites.

Claim : Captured Jihadist United Al Qaeda And Iraqi Insurgents

Why The 'Honeymoon' Is Over For Bush And The Saudis - Once So Close, Now So Distant

Number Of Worldwide Terror Attacks In 2006 Rose 29% To 14,000 - 49% Of Those Connected To Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan

Saudis Tell Israel : Accept Peace Deal On Palestine Or Face War

Don't Place Your Future In The Hands Of "The Lords Of War" Saudis Warn Israel

Israel Will Be "Recognised" By All Arab Sates If They Pull Back To Pre-1967 Borders

The Saudis and Arab Gulf states have clearly had enough of Israel's endless stalling on the finalisation of a two-state solution with the Palestinians and are loudly demanding Israel fall into line with a new peace plan or face the likelihood of further violence, and eventually war.

The meeting amongst the Arab states in Riyadh this week was an historical event of quite epic proportions. The Saudis shook hands with the Syrians, the Egyptians shook hands with the Iranians, who also shook hands with the Saudis, and key power players from the UN, including the Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, opened the talks. Then followed days of negotiations and working parties, conferences, speeches and discussions.

Remarkably, the United States were virtually all but invisible during the peace talks.

Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has been effectively marginalised and squeezed out of the current Big Push led by Arab states to bring the 60 year conflict between Israel and Palestine to an end.

The US may be sponsoring the talks, but they are doing so from the back of the room.

Here's the short version of the deal the Arab states, led by the Saudis, have come up with, and are waiting for Israel to accept :

...all Arab countries will officially recognize Israel in return for its withdrawal from all land occupied in the 1967 war.

A Palestinian state will be established in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with East Jerusalem as the capital. The plan also proposes granting the right of return to all Palestinian refugees.

It is the right of return for refugees that Israel opposes most vehemently.

In an interview with the London Telegraph, the Saudi foreign minister warned :

"If Israel refuses, that means it doesn't want peace and it places everything back into the hands of fate. They will be putting their future not in the hands of the peacemakers but in the hands of the lords of war," he said.

Prince Saud dismissed any further diplomatic overtures towards Israel. "It has never been proven that reaching out to Israel achieves anything," he said.

"What we have the power to do in the Arab world, we think we have done," he said. "So now it is up to the other side because if you want peace, it is not enough for one side only to want it. Both sides must want it equally."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to have gotten the message from the Saudis, and looks set to live up to his promise to work for peace with the Palestinians :

The Israeli Prime Minister today described an Arab plan to make peace with the Jewish State as "revolutionary" and said the region could sign a final deal within five years.

Ehud Olmert made his remarks in a series of newspaper interviews this morning, after leaders of the 22 Arab countries gave their unanimous backing to a plan which would commit them to developing diplomatic relations with Israel if it first agreed to a "land-for-peace" deal with the Palestinians.

Only two states, Egypt and Jordan, currently have full diplomatic relations with Israel after signing peace treaties in 1979 and 1994, so the latest pledge for full diplomatic normalisation - which includes the hawkish Syrian regime - is regarded as hugely significant.

“There is a real possibility that Israel can sign a global peace accord with its enemies within five years," the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Asked whether he meant “all of the Arab world,” the Israeli leader replied: “yes."

Excerpts from a London Times earlier this week on the Arab summit:

Opening the summit, Mr Ban spoke of the urgency of reaching a solution, warning that the Middle East was on a knife-edge and describing the region as “more complex, more fragile and more dangerous than it has been for a very long time”.

Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor of The Times, said from Riyadh that the talks are being seen as a significant attempt to achieve some sort of progress in the Middle East peace process.

“The Saudis have really taken up the mantle on this and there is a level of expectation,” he said. “The hope is that the Arab nations can find a wording they can all accept, giving them an agreed position.”

“Previously Israel had shown little support for the initiative, but recently it has been making friendly noises towards the plans. What the US would like is for this initiative to pave the way for some sort of talks between the Quartet – the US, EU, UN and Russia – and Israel and the Arab nations.

“The real thorn is the issue of Palestinian refugees, with Israel rejecting the idea of vast numbers returning.”

While Saudi Arabia is "flush with money", a key reason why the Saudis have been so influential and insistent on first negotiating peace between Fatah and Hamas, and then between the Arab world and the Israelis, may have a lot to do with the ascendancy of Iran :

The menacing spectre of Iran, the rising Shia power with nuclear-tipped ambitions for regional dominance, looms large across the waters of the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia is quietly moving to contain its bellicose neighbour. Prince Saud offered conciliatory words to Iran, laced with coded criticism. "We have no inhibitions about the role of Iran," he said. "It is a large country. It wants to play a leading role in the region, and it has every right to do so. It is an historic country. But if you want to reach for leadership, you have to make sure that those you are leading are having their interests taken care of and not damaged."

Saudi Arabia has privately urged Iran to stop enriching uranium, in compliance with United Nations resolutions and lay to rest any suggestion that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Prince Saud called for a "Middle East free of nuclear weapons" with "no exceptions for anybody, be it Israel or Iran".

King Abdullah Calls For End To Palestinian Blockade

At the Arab summit, Saudi King Abdullah addressed the gathered leaders of the Muslim world and announced that the international blockade against the Palestinian government now had to end :

"It has become necessary to end the unjust blockade imposed on the Palestinian people as soon as possible so that the peace process can move in an atmosphere far from oppression and force," King Abdullah said at the opening of the summit.

Israel and the United States have urged countries to cut political and financial support for the Palestinians because Hamas, which leads the government, refuses to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing peace deals.

Fears are high among Arab leaders that a US-led attack on non-Arab Iran, which has refused to comply with UN demands to halt atomic work, could further destabilise their region.

Riyadh, pressed by its ally Washington to show more leadership in the region, has called on Sunni Muslim states to overcome divisions, arguing a united front will help persuade Israel to address Palestinian grievances.

Finally, it's worth taking a look back at a speech President Bush gave to the UN General Assembly in September, 2006. Should a final peace be reached between the Israelis and Palestinians, historians will cite this Bush speech as a ignition switch for the momentum that has carried talks through the past seven months to the historical events now becoming reality in the Middle East.

The world must also stand up for peace in the Holy Land. I'm committed to two democratic states -- Israel and Palestine -- living side-by-side in peace and security.

I'm committed to a Palestinian state that has territorial integrity and will live peacefully with the Jewish state of Israel. This is the vision set forth in the road map -- and helping the parties reach this goal is one of the great objectives of my presidency.

The Palestinian people have suffered from decades of corruption and violence and the daily humiliation of occupation. Israeli citizens have endured brutal acts of terrorism and constant fear of attack since the birth of their nation. Many brave men and women have made the commitment to peace. Yet extremists in the region are stirring up hatred and trying to prevent these moderate voices from prevailing.

This struggle is unfolding in the Palestinian territories. Earlier this year, the Palestinian people voted in a free election. The leaders of Hamas campaigned on a platform of ending corruption and improving the lives of the Palestinian people, and they prevailed.

The world is waiting to see whether the Hamas government will follow through on its promises, or pursue an extremist agenda. And the world has sent a clear message to the leaders of Hamas: Serve the interests of the Palestinian people. Abandon terror, recognize Israel's right to exist, honor agreements, and work for peace.

President Abbas is committed to peace, and to his people's aspirations for a state of their own. Prime Minister Olmert is committed to peace, and has said he intends to meet with President Abbas to make real progress on the outstanding issues between them.

I believe peace can be achieved, and that a democratic Palestinian state is possible.

I'm optimistic that by supporting the forces of democracy and moderation, we can help Israelis and Palestinians build a more hopeful future and achieve the peace in a Holy Land we all want.

Freedom, by its nature, cannot be imposed -- it must be chosen. From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom. And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice, as well: Will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East -- or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists? America has made its choice: We will stand with the moderates and reformers.

It is unfortunate then that historians will also recognise that as President Bush gave this speech, US State Department NeoCon aligned power brokers and hardline Zionist Israelis were telling Palestine's Prime Minister Abbas that he had to destroy the "unity" government of Hamas and Fatah.

Historians will recognise that it was the Saudis who brokered the eventual peace last month between Fatah and Hamas, and brought to an end the growing civil war inside Palestine. The US and Israel, along with the UK and Australia, refused to recognise Hamas, nor deal with them in any way whatsoever. This left Abbas isolated and near powerless. He had no choice but to work with Hamas to prevent further chaos.

It is likely that when the Saudis learned what the US and Israeli aligned Neocons were up to, they realised the NeoCon-approved 'Total Chaos In The Middle East' plan was being sparked into life, and they worked fast and hard to wind back the growing tensions in their region.

The Saudis brokered the peace between Hamas and Fatah, and then the Saudis created the Arab states unity that led to the Riyadh meeting where a final peace deal was developed and handed to Israel and the United States.

The Fatah-Hamas peace deal brokered by the Saudis shocked the Israelis and the United States. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. They were not involved. And that moment marked, for the Arab states at least, the failing influence of the United States to shape the future of peace in their region.

As discussed above, the Palestinians, the Saudis, all of the Arab states, now wait to see what Israel and the United States decides to do next.

Will it be peace? Or will it be war?

The Saudis have successfully let the world, and the world's media, know that the chance for final peace is now in the hands of Israel.

With Ehud Olmert's talk yesterday of a final peace within five years, the end of the conflict between Palestine and Israel has never looked so close, nor so realistic.

Olmert Praises "Revolutionary Change In Outlook" By Arab States, Commits To Talks

Abbas Extends Hand Of Peace To Israel

Millions Of Palestinian Refugees Cling To Hope Of "Right Of Return" To Their Lands

Israel Resists US Plans For Mid East Peace Talks Over Palestinians "Right To Return Home"

After Israel Veto Of Earlier Plans, Rice Presents Israel-Approved Scaled Back Version Of Middle East Peace Deal

Israel Unlikely To Budge On Palestinians Right Of Return

"There Is A Real Possibility Israel Can Sign A Global Peace Accord With Its Enemies Within Five Years"

Saudi Al Qaeda Declares War On United States Access To Oil

News agency Reuters has picked up on threats levelled at the United States by a self-proclaimed Saudi Arabian wing of 'Al Qaeda' that calls for attacks on US oil interests across the world. The group used an e-magazine to promote their plans of attack on suppliers of oil to the US in Venezeula, Mexico, Canada and across the Middle East :

"It is necessary to hit oil interests in all regions which serve the United States, not just in the Middle East. The goal is to cut its supplies or reduce them through any means...

"Targeting oil interests includes production wells, export pipelines, oil terminals and tankers and that can reduce U.S. oil inventory, forcing it to take decisions it has been avoiding for a long time and confuse and strangle its economy...."

Canada is the biggest exporter of crude oil to the United States, followed by Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

The country, which ships about 1.4 million barrels a day of crude to the United States, tightened security around its Gulf of Mexico oil rigs in 2005 in line with international norms, a spokeswoman at state-run oil monopoly Pemex said.

Venezuela said it was prepared to investigate the threat. "The Venezuelan state's intelligence apparatus is ready to launch any investigation in order to guarantee the operation of our strategic resources ... with a view to ensuring any early warning," Venezuelan Interior Minister Pedro Carreno told reporters.

The militant group also vowed new attacks in Saudi Arabia. "For some time now, we have been preparing some quality attacks which will shake the foundations of the crusaders (Westerners) in the Arabian Peninsula..."

The group claims that the Iraq War, and the War on Terror more generally is a War On Islam, and said attackig the 'Oil Weapon' was a necessary response to United States aggression.


Rare Insight Into How 'Al Qaeda' Plans Attacks - Istanbul Bombings, November, 2001

President Bush Tolerates Al Qaeda Finding Sanctuary In Pakistan

Al Qaeda Regroups In Afghanistan, Recruits In Europe

Saudis Come Out Of The Shadows To Prevent Wide Middle East War

From the New York Times :

With the prospect of three civil wars looming over the Middle East — and Iran poised to gain from them all — Saudi Arabia has abandoned its behind-the-scenes checkbook diplomacy and taken on a central, aggressive role in reshaping the region’s conflicts.

On Tuesday, the kingdom is playing host in Mecca to the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, the two feuding Palestinian factions, in what both sides say could lead to a national unity government and reduced bloodshed. Last fall, senior Saudi officials met secretly with Israeli leaders about how to establish a Palestinian state.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has also increased its public involvement in Iraq and its support of the Sunni-led government in Lebanon. The process is shaping up as a counteroffensive to efforts by Iran to establish itself as the regional superpower, according to diplomats, analysts and officials here and throughout the region. Some even say that the recent Saudi commitment to temper the price of oil is aimed at undermining Iran’s economy, although officials here deny that.

“We realized that we have to wake up,” said a high-ranking Saudi diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. “Someone rang the bell, ‘Be careful, something is moving.’ ”

The shift is occurring with encouragement from the Bush administration. Its goal is to see an American-backed alliance of Sunni Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, along with a Fatah-led Palestine and Israel, opposing Iran, Syria and the radical groups they support.

Yet Riyadh’s goals may not always be in alignment with those of the White House, and could complicate American interests.

The Saudi effort has been taken in collaboration with its traditional Persian Gulf allies and Egypt and Jordan, but it also represents another significant shift in a region undergoing a profound reshuffling. The changes are linked to the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the transfer of power from Sunni Muslims to Shiites in Iraq, analysts said. They also reach back many years to the gradual decline in influence of Cairo and the collapse of a pan-Arab agenda, analysts and diplomats said.

“The Saudis felt that the Iranian role in the region has become influential, especially in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, and that the Iranian role was undermining their role in the region,” said Muhammad al-Sakr, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Kuwaiti Parliament. “Usually the Saudis prefer to maneuver behind the scenes. Lately they’ve been noticeably active.”

From the Washington Post :

22 years Prince Bandar bin Sultan wheeled and dealed his way through Washington as Saudi Arabia's ambassador. By his account -- provided expansively to favored journalists -- he had a hand in most of America's major initiatives in the Middle East over a generation. During George W. Bush's presidency, for example, he brokered U.S. rapprochement with Libya and previewed plans for the invasion of Iraq two months before the war.

For a while after returning home in the summer of 2005, Bandar kept a low profile. Some speculated he was out of favor with the kingdom's ruler, Abdullah, despite his appointment as national security adviser. Now he's back: Since the beginning of the year the prince has suddenly begun wheeling and dealing his way around the Middle East.

In the past month Bandar has held three meetings with the Iranian national security chief, Ali Larijani, most recently last Wednesday in Riyadh. He's met twice with Vladimir Putin, in Moscow and Riyadh, to talk about Middle East affairs; overseen talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leaders; and quietly shuttled to Washington to brief President Bush. He helped broker this month's Palestinian accord on a unity government as well as a Saudi-Iranian understanding to cool political conflict in Lebanon. And he's been talking with the most senior officials of the Iranian and U.S. governments about whether there's a way out of the standoff over Iran's nuclear weapons.

Can Bandar bail the United States out of the multiple crises it has stumbled into in the Middle East? Maybe not, but Washington's old friend may be one of the best bets a desperate Bush administration has going at the moment. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has maneuvered herself into a corner by refusing to talk to Syria and Iran and boycotting the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Consequently there's little the United States can do diplomatically to defuse the conflicts in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, not to mention Iraq. Rice tried calling on Egypt, abruptly dropping the administration's previous urging that its autocratic government "lead the way" in democratizing the Middle East. But Egypt has been unable to deliver: It tried and failed to pry Syria away from its alliance with Iran, and it tried and failed to win concessions from Hamas.

That leaves Saudi Arabia and the hyperkinetic Bandar. In his last visit to Washington he offered a rosy report on his travels. Iran, he assured his American friends, had been taken aback by President Bush's recent shows of strength in the region, by the failure of his administration to collapse after midterm elections and by the unanimous passage of a U.N. resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran for failing to stop its nuclear program. The mullahs, he said, were worried about Shiite-Sunni conflict spreading from Iraq around the region, and about an escalating conflict with the United States; they were interested in tamping both down.

Bandar and Larijani already worked to stop incipient street fighting between Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement and pro-Western Sunni and Christian parties several weeks ago. But the Saudis have bigger plans: Bandar reported to Washington that he's hoping to split Iran from Syria -- reversing the maneuver that Egypt tried. The means would be a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran over a Lebanese settlement that included authorization of a U.N. tribunal to try those responsible for the murder of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. That would be poison to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who almost certainly was behind the murder.

Washington tried to set a couple of red lines for the Mecca talks: Hamas, it said, should be forced to accept international demands that it renounce violence and recognize Israel; and its prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, should not lead the new Palestinian cabinet. Bandar disregarded both.

That doesn't mean the old Bush family friend is not still welcome at the White House. The Palestinian deal was secondary for Bandar; his main aim is to defuse the multiple threats posed by Iran. If he can find a way to broker a deal that stops the Iranian nuclear program, and kick-starts a strategic dialogue between Tehran and Washington, it will be his greatest feat of all.