His Royal Highness Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al Saud is the
Saudi Arabian
Ambassador to the
United States. Born at
Taif on
March 2, 1949, Bandar bin Sultan is the son of His
Royal Highness
Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the Second
Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister of Defense and
Aviation, and
Inspector-General of
Saudi Arabia. He has borne four sons and four daughters with his wife,
Princess Haifa Bint Faisal.
Familial background left at that, he graduated from the
Royal Air Force College at
Cranwell, in
1968 and has since his flight training in the US and UK, he has flown numerous
Fighter Aircraft including the JP-3, JP-4,
T-38, T-33, F-5, F-53, F-55, F-102, and the
F-15. During his military career spanning seventeen years, he attained the
rank of
Lieutenant Colonel.
The Prince completed his
master's degree in international public policy from
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies,
Washington, DC, in 1980 after post graduate studies at several US military facilities including
Air Command and Staff College at
Maxwell Air Force Base in
Montgomery, Alabama, and with the
Industrial College of the Armed Forces at
Fort McNair in
Washington, DC.
Since his education, Prince Bandar bin Sultan has been an important
international figure, often taking roles and
assignments such as
cease-fire negotiations in the
Lebanese civil war, and has been a regular member of the Kingdom's
delegation to the
United Nations General Assembly since
1984. He has also been awarded numerous medals, including the
Hawk Flying Medal of Aviation, the
King Faisal Medal, and the
King Abdul Aziz Sash. He also has been awarded
medals by other
nations.
Prince Bandar was first appointed
Ambassador to the
United States by the
Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud on
September 27, 1983. He is currently
Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the United States. On
August 7, 1995, he was
promoted to the rank of
Minister.
However, Prince Bandar first came to my
attention and to that of numerous other
US Citizens when I was up late
programming with the news on the TV in the other room on the programme "
Hardball". Suddenly, I
finished my current segment and
wandered in to find him actually arguing with a member of the
media without regards for what the media man thought of him, going as far as to say, (it was
live) when the news
puppet tried to put
words in his mouth, "You know what? This is
bullshit, to be
honest with you." You simply don't get that kind of direct
rejection of the
games the media tries to play with people in
government positions. To this day, that
fire and spirit in getting his actual
meaning across rather than falling
prey to a verbal misphrasing or
entrapment has earned him
respect in my eyes.
Primary source: Saudi Arabian US Embassy website
http://www.saudiembassy.net/gov_profile/bio_Bandar.html