The Saudi leadership has broken its silence. The internal crisis is officially over. All is well in the House of Saud. The partying can continue for now.
The editors of the Voltaire Network wrote in an article on Sunday, August 5, called, "Saudi daily denies Prince Bandar is dead":
"The Saudi daily Arab News in its August 4 edition denies the death of Prince Bandar bin Sultan [1]. Arab News is the official mouthpiece of the royal family. It is owned by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Defence Minister of the Kingdom. The author of the article, Ali Bluwi, is an economic journalist and ... a crisis communications consultant to ... Washington."Okay, so the official mouthpiece of Saudi Arabia says Bandar Bush is alive and well. But why is the peacock not posing for cameras? Forget words. People want images. Until that happens the rumours won't die.
"Sources say" this and that. Sources from the North Pole say Santa Claus is actually black and not really fat. Who should we believe? Voltaire Net's sources, Iran's sources, or the House of Saud's sources? Or maybe the always reliable sources of the CIA?
The CIA's David Ignatius said on Sunday, August 5, that the rumour of Prince Bandar's death, "was rebutted Friday by a source who said that Bandar had been in telephone contact with non-Saudis." This is very vague. Maybe the Prince's voice was faked.
On Friday, August 3rd, Veterans Today reported that Bandar is in Switzerland. This is more concrete information, but we still don't have pictures.
So, what should we believe?
Is Prince Bandar playing hide and seek with the world? Is he dead? Is he hiding under his bed?
Since there are no recent photos of him in action we must conclude that he is dead, but with reservations.
