Robert
Jordan's Crucible
By
Jim Landers |
|
 He
was the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, with an
elegant home and a team of Saudi bodyguards and
armored vehicles. But after al-Qaeda bombed three
American housing compounds last year, Robert
Jordan was slipping out the back door in blue
jeans and a ball cap, hiding in the back of a
black GMC Suburban as his new U.S. diplomatic
security team sped into the Riyadh night toward an
"undisclosed location."
Those
were long nights, far from the Dallas corridors of
power where Mr. Jordan was a star attorney and
George W. Bush was his star client. The terrorists
had killed nine Americans. The calls and the news
about the May 12 bombings were lost in the silence
of hideouts with no phone and no television.
He'd
warned the Saudis. Three times he wrote the prince
running the Interior Ministry that al-Qaeda was
planning to strike where Americans slept. The
prince never answered.
 Yet
out of this month of fear and anger came a belief
that the Saudi royal family finally realized
al-Qaeda was a mortal danger. The kingdom that
held itself out to the world's Muslims as a
guardian of the faith had let religious terrorism
take root. As Mr. Jordan kept urging, the roots -
there were many - needed pulling.
"The
export of hatred and intolerance has to be dealt
with," Mr. Jordan said. "It is of
fundamental importance to the path of survival of
the regime. They have to take the oxygen away from
these terrorists by completely reorienting the
extremist ideology that has been allowed to
percolate in the last 25 years."
Mr.
Jordan came back to Dallas last October, drained
by his two-year stint as President Bush's envoy.
He'd been tasked with making the case for the
president to the Saudis for invading Iraq, and for
the administration's view that a major diplomatic
effort in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute made
sense only under a Palestinian leader other than
Yasser Arafat.
Mr.
Jordan still believes these were the best
policies, despite the welling anti-American anger
that swept across Saudi Arabia and the rest of the
Arab world.
Today,
even as books and movies question the Bush
family's ties to the House of Saud, Mr. Jordan
remains convinced the United States must stand by
the Saudi royal family.
"The
alternatives would be unthinkable," he said.
"What would replace them looks a whole lot
more like the Taliban than Jeffersonian democracy.
If there was an election for president today in
Riyadh, Americans would not be very happy with the
result."
An
education in Islam
 Ambassador
Jordan arrived in Saudi Arabia one month after a
mostly Saudi team of terrorists killed 3,000
Americans in September 2001. His friend James
Doty, managing partner of the Baker Botts law
office in Washington (and another of Mr. Bush's
former lawyers), says the assignment was one of
the most challenging in modern American diplomacy.
"I
know of no other case except for World War II with
[William] Dodd in Germany and [George] Kennan in
Russia during the Cold War, where an ambassador
had such a very difficult assignment at a time of
such high tensions," he said.
Like
a string of diplomats before him, Mr. Jordan, 58,
was charmed by the hospitality and impressed by
the grasp of world affairs of many Saudi princes
and professionals. Working together, they
exercised the old tenets of the relationship - oil
and arms. U.S. air wars against Afghanistan and
Iraq were directed out of Saudi Arabia. Saudi oil
flattened the price hikes at American service
stations in 2001 and 2003.
The
leaderships of the two countries shared a loathing
for Saddam Hussein: "They would have been
very happy for him to be vaporized," Mr.
Jordan said of the Saudis.
This
was, however, a new era of diplomacy in the
heartland of Islamic terrorism. Mr. Jordan found
deep roots of intolerance among what he calls the
"ultra-conservatives" of Saudi society.
He
met aging princes who assured him the Israelis
were responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
He
learned that religious militants in the kingdom
were destroying the 7th century homes of the
Prophet Muhammad and his followers to keep these
antiquities from becoming sites for idolatry.
He
read translations of texts used to teach Saudi
children, where subtraction was explained by the
number of mujahedeen heading off for
jihad, where Christians were infidels and Jews
were monkeys.
In
interviews over the last several months with
The Dallas Morning News, Mr. Jordan listed
several reasons why Saudi Arabia became the
fountainhead of al-Qaeda's ideology. Both the
kingdom and al-Qaeda share the puritanical strain
of Sunni Muslim faith called Wahhabism, named
after the 18th century spiritual partner of the
Saudi royal family. Militant followers of the
anti-Western Muslim Brotherhood fled Egypt and
Syria in the 1960s for sanctuary in Saudi Arabia,
where often they became schoolteachers.
After
zealots seized the holiest spot in Islam by
occupying the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979, Saudi
princes had the survivors beheaded - but then
caved in to their demands for stricter religious
control over education, cultural affairs and the
rights of women.
In
the 1980s, veterans of the holy war against the
Soviets in Afghanistan inspired many disaffected
young Saudi men. In the 1990s, radical imams found
a home in Saudi mosques preaching against the
presence of U.S. forces in the kingdom.
 In
the war on terrorism, Mr. Jordan's mission was to
reform this milieu by working with the Saudi royal
family - particularly 81-year-old Crown Prince
Abdullah, who runs the country for his infirm
older brother, King Fahd.
"At
a time of conflict and terrorist attacks, this
requires cooperation with the Saudis both to
capture or kill the actual terrorists, and to
reduce the breeding ground," he said.
"There is still a lot of work to do."
As
ambassador, it also fell to Mr. Jordan to help the
Saudis communicate their grievances with the
United States. There were several.
Mr.
Jordan urged Mr. Bush to speak out against
American evangelicals preaching hatred and
intolerance toward Islam. The president did, but
"I would prefer he had done it more,"
Mr. Jordan said.
Mr.
Jordan criticized Israel's excesses in the war
with the Palestinians, while telling the Saudis
that Mr. Bush had lost all patience with
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Mr.
Jordan also had to face whether the House of Saud
was part of the problem.
He
prodded the CIA about whether Saudi royals had
ties to al-Qaeda. He asked them to look again when
media accounts made such connections. None was
ever confirmed. Like the commission examining the
9-11 attacks, Mr. Jordan concluded there was no
evidence of Saudi government support for al-Qaeda.
Mr.
Jordan met with Saudi critics of the royal family.
He went to the offices of Saudi charities and
confronted executives about the libel and hatred
in their publications.
A
lengthening list of Saudi domestic affairs became
part of the ambassador's agenda.
"Lately
I've been saying what goes on in Saudi mosques and
schools is no longer an internal matter. It
affects our national security," he said.
A
call from the White House
Bob
Jordan was a founding partner in the Dallas office
of Baker Botts, the law firm of former Secretary
of State James A. Baker III. In 1989, he went to
an inaugural party for President George H.W. Bush
hosted by Baker Botts' Washington office. That's
where he met George W. Bush, who at that time was
looking to buy a piece of the Texas Rangers. Mr.
Bush later hired Mr. Jordan to represent him in a
Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
Mr.
Bush and Mr. Jordan would meet socially at the
Ballpark in Arlington for dinner and a game.
Later, the Jordans were guests at the governor's
mansion in Austin.
When
Mr. Bush won the presidency, Mr. Jordan offered
his congratulations and his service.
The
White House personnel office called in March 2001.
He
wasn't sought out for his contributions to the
campaign. Mr. Jordan donated $2,000 toward Mr.
Bush's election drive.
Instead,
the president wanted a friend for this job - the
Saudis, Mr. Jordan said, insisted on an ambassador
with the president's ear. Mr. Bush was also
looking for loyalty, discretion and someone who
would level with him about what was going on in
Saudi Arabia. Despite all the contacts and
familiarity with Saudi Arabia held by his father,
George W. Bush was still feeling his way, with
some skepticism, Mr. Jordan said.
Mr.
Jordan was at the top of his game in Dallas. He
had a 9th-floor office in the Trammell Crow
building overlooking the Dallas Museum of Art. He
had a wife and three sons, a home in University
Park, and a five-minute commute he made in a dark
blue Porsche 911.
In
Saudi Arabia, he'd be in charge at an embassy
built like a fortress. He'd be chauffeured in an
armored BMW with Saudi bodyguards in lead and
chase cars, living in comfort but in profound
cultural isolation in one of the most conservative
societies in the world.
The
president urged Mr. Jordan to talk with his father
about Saudi Arabia. So Mr. Jordan flew to Houston
and met with the former president.
Even
before Sept. 11, the job was a challenge. On Aug.
24, 2001, Crown Prince Abdullah flew into a rage
while watching President Bush tell the media that
the onus was on the Palestinians, rather than
Israel, to get the peace process started again.
The prince ordered Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the
Saudi ambassador in Washington, to deliver a
25-page letter to Mr. Bush warning that his stance
on the Middle East had brought the U.S.-Saudi
relationship to a crossroads.
Mr.
Bush responded by advocating a two-state solution
to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. The Saudis
were pleased, but the next U.S. ambassador would
have to keep working the issue.
"The
crown prince doesn't like the telephone. He does
call the president from time to time. But he does
a lot of business in person, and he doesn't travel
much," Mr. Jordan said. "It falls to the
ambassador to convey to the president the personal
thoughts of the crown prince, and to represent the
president in this personal relationship."
 Mr.
Jordan's first meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah
was at the king's palace in Riyadh.  The
United States was bombing Afghanistan, and the
Islamic fasting month of Ramadan was approaching.
The Bush administration was worried that the
Saudis would stop U.S. warplanes heading to
Afghanistan from flying out of Saudi bases for the
month. Gen. Tommy Franks came to argue against the
idea, and Mr. Jordan went with him.
Despite
Gen. Franks' growing impatience - "He had a
war to fight," Mr. Jordan recalled - the
prince kept the two men waiting more than three
hours. So they talked about the Bush family, and
about familiar stomping grounds in Texas.
After
his first months exploring the seeds of terrorism
in Saudi society, Mr. Jordan flew to Washington
and argued that the administration needed to pull
Saudi Arabia into the World Trade Organization.
In
a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney, Mr.
Jordan argued that WTO membership would compel
Saudi Arabia to do much more than lower tariffs.
It would change Saudi society. Saudi businesses
would need a workforce schooled in business, math,
science and critical analysis rather than Wahhabi
dogma. And it could lead to greater rights for
Saudi women.
Despite
making several changes, the Saudis still lack
membership in the trade organization. Reforms in
education and freedom of speech, curbs on
extremist sermons and radical charities, and
greater rights for women - all steps Mr. Jordan
urged on the Saudis - have fallen short of U.S.
expectations.
The
prospect of reform breakthroughs that would
satisfy the United States was never great, said
David Long, a retired diplomat who worked in the
kingdom and still visits and writes about the
relationship. Ties between the two governments
held in the aftermath of Sept. 11. But bitterness
and animosity mushroomed between the American and
Saudi people.
In
that atmosphere, Mr. Jordan's task was
"almost impossible," Mr. Long said.
"I
wouldn't have wanted that job for all the tea in
China. Given those circumstances, he did about as
well as he could."
Mr.
Jordan takes pride in having pushed the dialogue.
He hopes his successor as ambassador to the
kingdom - Dallas oil executive Jim Oberwetter,
another friend of the president with tact, loyalty
and candor - will have better results.
'This
tragic event'
 As
U.S. tanks rolled into Baghdad in April 2003, a
new battleground was about to open inside Saudi
Arabia. Intelligence from numerous sources,
including interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects,
convinced the CIA there would soon be bombings at
housing compounds in the kingdom.
Ambassador
Jordan sent a letter to Prince Muhammad bin
Nayef, the Saudi deputy interior minister, who
runs the ministry for his father, Prince Nayef.
The
letter passed on the intelligence information and
asked for improved security at compounds used by
Americans.
There
was no reply. Mr. Jordan wrote again. Still no
reply.
On
May 6, Saudi police uncovered a nest of 19
al-Qaeda militants in northeast Riyadh, less than
1,000 yards from a luxury housing compound. There
was a gunbattle. The militants escaped.
Mr.
Jordan wrote again to Prince Muhammad. No answer.
On
May 12, al-Qaeda militants attacked three Riyadh
housing compounds with car bombs. Nine Americans
were killed, along with 16 others of different
nationalities. Nine terrorists also died.
![Secretary of State Powell visiting one of three "Western" compounds damaged by terrorists in Riyadh on May 12, 2003. [Saudi TV image]](http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/images/Specials/MayRiyadhBomb1.JPG) Secretary
of State Colin Powell arrived the next morning. He
and Mr. Jordan toured the bomb damage at two of
the compounds. Angry and exhausted, Mr. Jordan
talked with a TV news crew.
"We
contacted the Saudi government, in fact on several
occasions, to request that added security be
provided to all Western residential compounds and
government installations in the kingdom," Mr.
Jordan said on CBS' The Early Show.
"But they did not, as of the time of this
tragic event, provide the additional security we
requested."
 Crown
Prince Abdullah apologized to Mr. Powell and Mr.
Jordan.
U.S.
and Saudi officials say the scales fell off of
Saudi eyes that day. Ever since, they say, there
has been complete law enforcement and intelligence
cooperation in the war on terrorism.
After
the bombings, a State Department security detail
examined Mr. Jordan's residence in the Diplomatic
Quarter of Riyadh. The detail was alarmed by the
unguarded ravine behind the walled residence. Mr.
Jordan was told he should not sleep at the
residence until new cameras and other gear were
installed.
Mr.
Jordan said goodbye to the dependents and
non-essential personnel of the embassy community,
who were ordered to leave the country.
During
those tense weeks, he went to dinner parties with
Saudi intellectuals and princes, where the talk
turned to how the kingdom could deal with its
disaffected young and shake up its geriatric royal
line of succession.
Then
he went home to his cavernous, empty house,
changed into blue jeans and a baseball cap, and
snuck out the back door.
U.S.
security agents with flak vests and submachine
guns shielded him from the Saudi guards as they
sped him to his hideouts.
At
dawn, the agents would return Mr. Jordan to his
house.
Early
in June, Mr. Jordan joined Mr. Bush and Crown
Prince Abdullah at the U.S.-Arab summit in Sharm
El-Sheik, Egypt. The president wanted endorsements
from Arab leaders for the recently completed
"road map" for negotiating a solution to
the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.
Between
meetings, Mr. Jordan got a moment alone with Mr.
Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice. It was time for him to leave, the ambassador
said. He'd stayed on for the war in Iraq, and
through the aftermath of the May 12 bombings.
"I
can't thank you enough for your service," Mr.
Bush said.
Mr.
Jordan returned to Baker Botts in Dallas. He plans
to write a book about his experiences.
Chas.
Freeman Jr., former President George H.W. Bush's
ambassador to Saudi Arabia, came to the job after
a career in government service rather than a
friendship with the president. Some presidential
friends want an ambassadorship because "it's
the closest thing we have to a knighthood, and
they want the title," Mr. Freeman said.
"But
Bob Jordan was very definitely the
exception," he added. "He gave this job
everything he had."
REPRINTED
WITH PERMISSION OF THE DALLAS
MORNING NEWS
Also
see:
Crises
and Opportunities in U.S.-Saudi Relations:
Ambassador Robert Jordan Interview (SUSRIS)
http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/newsletter2004/saudi-relations-interest-09-07.html
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