Fox News Saudi Prince Alwaleed and Murdoch's Leftist Son

Diana West, a columnist for The Examiner has written about the disturbing news in the last couple of weeks of Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's buy-in of Fox News' parent company, News Corp. You'll remember after September 11, 2001, then-New-York-mayor Rudy Giuliani  refused to accept a check from Alwaleed in the amount of $10 million, as Alwaleed's position was that American policy caused the jihadists to act.  The Prince has now upped his holding in News Corp from 5% to 7%. See a video with Steve Forbes and Prince Alwaleed below.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

Alwaleed's long march through U.S. institutions is a mainly post-9/11 progression greased by his purchase of a 5.6 percent stake in News Corp. in 2005, and his purchases, I mean, gifts, of $20 million apiece to Georgetown and Harvard universities, also in 2005.

There have been other eye-catching displays of Alwaleed's largesse -- $500,000 in 2002 to the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Hamas- and Muslim-Brotherhood-linked entity, and a whopping $27 million, also in 2002, to the families of Palestinian "martyrs," aka suicide bombers.

These, along with Alwaleed's self-described "very close relationship" with Murdoch son and apparent heir apparent James, a left-wing global warmist with virulently anti-Israel views, should only deepen Americans' concerns about Fox's ties to "the prince." Recently, Murdoch and Alwaleed have discussed expanding their business relationship through the Murdoch purchase of a substantial stake in Rotana, Alwaleed's huge Arab media company....

How does this influence Fox News coverage? It's impossible to say. Alwaleed has bragged that it only took a phone call to ensure that Fox coverage of Muslim rioting in France not be described as "Muslim" rioting in France, a boast News Corp. has never denied.

Read West's story at The Examiner

Bernie at Planck's Constant is talking about FOX contributor Charles Krauthammer's recent comments on Islam, and wondering if FOX sent out marching orders. It's well-worth thinking about. Read it at Planck's Constant.

Info on Alwaleed here


Hat tip to Jim Simpson at Truth and Consequences



















Steve Forbes interviews Prince Alwaleed (video)

Iran to Deliver Blow to Global Powers on February 11

This story will not open. The message "Server too Busy" keeps popping up. Run over to Atlas Shrugs to read the latest stunt by Achmadinejad. But come back and read about the beefing-up of Patriot missiles and warships in the Gulf and in Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait. It's happening now! Obama Iranian Diplomacy Fails: Missiles and Warships to Gulf.

Abdulmutallab Al-Qaeda in Saudia Arabia: Saudia al-Qaeda Claims Christmas Day Attack

Just crossing the news wires and announced at FOXNews: al-Qaeda in Saudia Arabia is claiming responsibility for Abdulmutallab's Christmas Day attack on Northwest Flight 253. More as available.

Related and Background:
 Noteworthy News on Abdulmutallab: Eric Holder's Federal not Military Court

Gloria Borger grills John Brennan (video)

John Brennan Briefed about Yemen Bombs in Briefs last October 

 Travel Blog says Terrorists Plant Explosives Up their Anus!

Michael Leiter Sidesteps Christmas Day Bomb Attempt: Dennis blair's DNI CIA Turf War

 Obama's Pre-Christmas Security Briefing: Authorities Lie About Second Man Detained

 Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attended Islamic school in Houston

 Michael Leiter NW Flt 253: CIA sent Abdulmutallab info to Leiter's Counterterrorism Center

Abdulmutallab and al-Qaeda in Saudia Arabia: Claims Christmas Day Attack

Jaspar Schuringa is Flight 253 hero: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - son of prominent Nigerian banker

Amsterdam and the al-Qaeda threat is a Homeland Security Failure

Abdul Mudallad is Nigerian NW Flt. 253 Bomber - al-Qaeda failed in airline bomb attempt


Other Airline Terrorists:
Shoe Bomber Richard Reid Wins: Terrorism and Jihad wins

Bin Laden Family Found: Bin Laden Family "Forgotten Victims of 9/11"

Some of Osama bin Laden's closet family have been found hiding out in a secret compound in Tehran, Iran. They want to leave the country and say they are the "forgotten victims of 9/11."

Clockwise from top left: Osama Bin Laden and his 10-year-old son Ali; Saad bin Laden; Omar Ossama bin Laden with his wife Zaina; Ossman bin Laden; and Muhammad and Bakr bin Laden

Omar Ossama bin Laden, 29, the Al Qaeda leader’s fourth-eldest son, said he had no idea that his brothers and sisters were still alive until they called him in November. They told him how they had fled Afghanistan just before the 9/11 attacks and walked to the Iranian border. They were taken to a walled compound outside Tehran where guards said they were not allowed to leave "for their own safety". The eldest of the children, Saad, was 20 at the time, Ossman 17, Muhammad 15, Fatma 14, Hamza 12, Iman 9, and Bakr, 7.

There had been speculation that Muhammad was second in command of al-Qaeda and that Saad also instigated and plotted terrorist attacks until he was killed about 18 months ago by an American drone. The relatives, however, said that Muhammad is still living in the compound and that Saad ran away less than a year ago in an attempt to find his mother.
A week after making contact with her brother, Iman escaped during a rare trip outside the compound and made her way to the Saudi Arabian Embassy. She is now living there while seeking permission to leave Iran.

Mr bin Laden said that his relatives live as normal a life as possible, cooking meals, watching television and reading. They are allowed out only rarely for shopping trips. As a number of families are being held in the compound some of the older siblings have been able to marry and have their own children. “The Iranian Government did not know what to do with this large group of people that nobody else wanted, so they just kept them safe. For that we owe them much gratitude, and thank Iran from the depth of our heart,” he said.

Mr bin Laden, who had lived with his father in exile in Sudan and Afghanistan but left before the 9/11 attacks, now hopes that the family will be given permission to leave Iran and join his mother, brother and two sisters in Syria, or himself and his wife in Qatar.

He said: “They are all just innocent victims, just the same as anyone else hurt by the dreadful events of 9/11 and 7/7. These babies and children have never had any education, never hurt a single soul, never trained with any weapons or ever been part of al-Qaeda. We just want to be together as a family. I have now got 11 nieces and nephews, born either in Afghanistan or Iran that I have never seen.

“Some may find this story unnerving, but the child can’t be judged by the sins of their father.”

 Saad bin Laden was released by Iran in late 2008. It is believed that he was killed in an American Hellfire missile strike from a Predator drone in Pakistan in July 2009.

Eman bin Laden, the 17-year-old daughter of Osama bin Laden fled the Iranian compound and made her way to the Saudia Arabian Embassy in October or November 2009, where she has received asylum. More.

Another bin Laden son, Abdullah, who lives in Saudi Arabia, told the Arab TV news network Al-Jazeera in an interview aired this week that Eman telephoned him after she eluded guards who were taking her on a shopping trip in Tehran.

Osama bin Laden reportedly has 19 children by several wives. He took at least one of his wives and their children with him to Afghanistan in the late 1990s after he was thrown out of his previous refuge, Sudan. They fled when the U.S-led war erupted, including the group that tried to escape through Iran....

Most of the al-Qaida leader's children, like Omar, live as legitimate businessmen. The extended bin Laden family, one of the wealthiest in Saudi Arabia, disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities. Osama bin Laden's billionaire father Mohammed, who died in 1967, had more than 50 children and founded the Binladen Group, a construction conglomerate that gets many major building contracts in the kingdom.

Source and Photo Credit: TimesOnline

Saudia Arabia Fly-Over: Saudia Allowing Israeli Plane Fly-Over to Iran

The Times Online is reporting from Tel Aviv that Saudi Arabia will allow Israel to fly-over their country to get to Iran "during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites."

Israeli Plane Fly-Over - Iranian Nuclear Reactor

The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more than the Israelis,” said a former head of research in Israeli intelligence.

The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz in the centre of the country and other locations for four years.

Saudis to let Israel flyover to attack Iran? by Carl in Jerusalem at Israel Matzav: Before we start this story, let me inform you that one of its authors is Uzi Mahnaimi, who has been known to exaggerate in the past. The Sunday Times of London is reporting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that it will look the other way if the IAF overflies its country on a mission to remove Iran's nuclear capability. Traversing Saudi Arabia would considerably shorten the route to Iran.

The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites. Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials. “The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week. Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.

Two things make this report credible. One is that the Israeli press has carried reports of meetings with Saudi officials, which the Saudis have dutifully denied. Second, Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter cite John Bolton, who calls this development 'logical.'

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace. Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.” Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said.

They quote Bolton as going on to note that to this day, Israel has not admitted any of the specifics of the 2007 raid on Syria's nuclear reactor. So is this going to happen? It's plausible. It's also something that no one here or in Riyadh would discuss openly (and you can expect a Saudi denial - and maybe even an Israeli one - before the morning is over). And I highly doubt anyone told Mahnaimi about it. He may have just guessed it. Putting this together with the Suez Canal story from Friday (which was half-denied by Egypt), one can conclude that something is in the works with or without American cooperation (which won't happen so long as Obama is President). What and when remain to be seen. But I would bet on it happening sometime within the next six months. With his obsession with 'engaging' with Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, Obama has managed to scare the Egyptians and the Saudis even more than the Israelis and has brought an attack on Iran's nuclear capability much closer than it was six months ago. End Israel Matzav I hope you will visit Israel Matzav for some of the most insightful reporting and commentary available on Israel and the Middle East.

Obama Mutual Respect Tour: Saudis Emboldened, Iran Already Emboldened

As Obama spoke to the "Muslim world" on his Mutual Respect Tour this week we began to see where the speech is taking us. For all the talk about assuring the Muslim world that we think well of them, and will treat them with respect, whether they do the same with us or not, all that has been accomplished is that Saudis are emboldened, and likely the whole of the Middle East, as Saudia Arabia insists with greater vigor that we bring Israel to her knees.

Saudi King Abdullah

There is this Reuters headline out of India:

Saudi urges Obama to impose Mideast solution - paper.

The word "impose" is a strong word. A Saudi newspaper, Al-Hayat, owned by the nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, confirms the story and the use of the Saudi heavy-hand:

We want from you a serious participation to solve the Palestinian issue and impose the solution if necessary," the Saudi monarch told Obama, according to the paper, which is owned by a nephew of the monarch.

The translation for Americans is: If Israel doesn't go along with the two state solution and hand over the West Bank, and especially Jerusalem to Palestine, Mr. President, we want you to "impose" whatever it takes to get the job done. Al-Hayat did not "elaborate" on the details of what to "impose" or how to "impose" it. Many of us have believed that Obama's approach with Iran is the wrong approach, that it leaves Iran the time to dally with us, and dangle Israel over the precipice. Nevertheless, Obama supporters believe he has the magic touch and Iran will fall in line with the need to destroy their nuclear capabilities - because Mr. Obama is affording them such respect. Well Al-Hayat has no such illusions.

Dr. Susan Rice

On May 1, 2009, the London daily Al-Hayat interviewed Obama's new United Nation's Ambassador, Dr. Susan Rice. According to the newspaper, "Dr. Rice answered questions regarding the Obama administration's positions on Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Sudan." The interviewer was correspondent Raghida Dergham. Here's an exchange that we didn't find in our U.S. media:

Interviewer: "You know, Ambassador, some are saying that Iran is emboldened even to the extent of interfering everywhere - not only in Iraq and Lebanon, but even in Egypt - because it, [that is,] the Iranian leadership, feels that the United States under the Obama administration 'is ready to embrace us.' So [they think:] 'there are no red lines, we can go ahead and take advantage of the situation right now. And we can impose a de facto situation'... What do you think about that?"

Ambassador Rice: "I am not sure, what are you saying?"

Interviewer: "What I am saying is that the Obama administration's openness to Teheran is being interpreted as an encouragement to some in Teheran to go ahead, and interfere not only through Hizbullah in Lebanon, not only in Iraq, but even as far as Egypt."

Dr. Rice gave a long answer but firmly said if this is the position in Iran, then they are ill advised.

Interviewer: "What about the nuclear ambiguity? People are talking about nuclear ambiguity, [i.e. the option of] living with a nuclear Iran without openly acquiescing to it - precisely because the Obama administration does not want to opt for the military route."

Ambassador Rice: "Now wait a minute, I don't know what you mean by 'nuclear ambiguity.' That's not something the United States is discussing or contemplating. The President has been very clear: Iran with a nuclear weapons capability is not an outcome that is consistent with our interest or with regional security. So 'nuclear ambiguity' is somebody else's term that I certainly don't want to embrace..."

On a lighter note, I suppose there are many funny Arabs living in Saudi Arabia and Palestine, and Jordan and Syria. They haven't come to my attention in the past, but in the Al-Hayat article, there was some real humor, from the Saudi King, no less.

We (Arabs) want to devote our time ... to build a generation capable of confronting the future with science and work," King Abdullah said, according to al-Hayat.

Just a joke I'm sure. We all know there has been no time since the 1940's (and long before Israel's statehood) and no money, to do anything worthwhile in the barren and festering Palestine. Thanks to MEMRI

Obama Bows Deep and Low to King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia

Maybe you fret that the reports of President Obama bowing to King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia are exaggerated...or maybe you think it is simply a sign of respect. You would be wrong either way. See a photograph and videos below.

President Obama Bows Deep and Low to King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia

Simple etiquette, intended to show that American's are not subject to any other rule than our own, is that we do not bow to to the leaders of other countries. Queen Elizabeth expects no one, not even her own subjects, to bow or curtsy to her, although they may do so out of respect, if they wish. Meeting the King of Saudia Arabia requires nothing more than a handshake. President G. W. Bush was harshly, and rightfully, criticized for holding hands with King Abdullah. The White House explained that Bush was simply providing support for the more elderly King, who is 84 years old today, as they walked along. Another very interesting observation: Michelle Obama steps in front of Prince Phillip, nudging her way next to the Queen. See the video here. The first video below shows Obama bowing to Abdullah at about 54 seconds in. The second video also shows the bow at 1:36 seconds into viewing, but the photo really tells the story. Also watch an astonishing video with Michelle Obama clearly stepping right in front of Price Phillip in a photo session. Obviously, nothing will stand in Michelle's way when it comes to the limelight.

Obama bows Deep and Low to King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia (Video)

Obama Bows Deep and Low to King Abdullah of Saudia Arabia (Video)

Read a list of Obama's overt and outrageous behaviors on behalf of the Muslim world at Atlas Shrugs.