Tenet/Bandar meeting on 9/08/01

On Saturday (9/08/01) night, he attended a party hosted by Bruce Riedel, and most of the official Middle East policy community was there, including both the Saudi and Israeli ambassadors, as was CIA director George Tenet. Afterward, Bandar left with Tenet for an all-night schmooze that lasted through breakfast on Sunday morning. According to Reidel, the prince told Tenet that the crisis in U.S.-Saudi relations they had just weathered had been but the tip of an iceberg. The leading lights of the House of Saud had undertaken a sweeping reappraisal of the kingdom's ties to the United States, and the debate had gone on for months. A consensus had emerged in favor of a dramatic change in direction away from reliance on the Americans. In his message, Abdullah had been speaking not just for himself but for the entire family. The good news was that events of the past week had changed all that, and U.S.-Saudi relations were back on track.

From pg. 154 of The King's Messenger by David Ottaway