The Al Yamamah oil fund

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3 responses to “The Al Yamamah oil fund”

1. 

   David Habakkuk

   May 26, 2008

   According to a story by Stephen Fidler in the FT last July, the account at the BOE into which the money from oil sales was paid was controlled by the Saudis — at least initially. Some or all of the payments out of it, he says, were routed through DESO at the MoD. So the relevant gap is between the amount paid in to this Saudi-controlled account, and the amount out to BAE.
   What his sources have been telling Harper — and these are CIA and Treasury people — is that this was a device devised, not simply to keep Saudi princes in the style to which they were accustomed, but to make possible the funding of covert operations. Initially, these would primarily have been the supply of arms to the muhajedin in Afghanistan. But if the gap is anything like as large as Harper suggests, a massive amount of money must have been available for such operations since the Afghan War ended.
   What makes his claims more plausible to me is that Fidler suggests that Al-Yamamah was ‘used, with the help of the British government, as a secret tool of Saudi foreign policy.’
   But Fidler’s story would seem to imply rather more than it clearly states. If in fact all of the payments out of the BOE account came through DESO — which Fidler suggests may have been the case — then it would follow that DESO was not simply an organisation for marketing weaponry, but also an organisation for funding covert operations.
   So one would then not have simply a secret Saudi foreign policy — but a secret Saudi/British foreign policy — and most likely, a secret Saudi/British/US foreign policy.
   It is worth noting the date: the letter from King Fahd stating his intent to buy 48 Tornados and 30 Hawk trainers was sent in August 1985, just as President Reagan was authorising the sale of arms to Iran. At this time, important figures in the Reagan Administration were fascinated by covert operations — and profoundly frustrated by constraints from Congress.
   What Harper is claiming — and clearly what senior Treasury and CIA people think — is that behind the corruption story is a much larger story about the subversion of constitutional government by enthusiasts for covert operations.
   Fidler’s story is at:
   http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?sortBy=gadatearticle&queryText=yamamah+fidler&y=7&aje=true&x=15&id=070702000587&ct=0.
   I have covered aspects of this is in more detail in a long response to ‘Harper’ which Colonel Lang posted — unfortunately Typepad seems sometimes to take it into its head capriciously to eliminate paragraphing.

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2. 

   ziz

   May 29, 2008

   Sic SEmper Tyrannis link does not work jusy consists of http//

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3. 

   Tom Griffin

   May 30, 2008

   Thanks, I have fixed it now.

   Reply