Kuwait - private
Through a series of episodes in the "Black Box" program presented by Kuwaiti journalist Ammar Taqi on the platforms of the local Al-Qabas newspaper, the head of Saudi intelligence between 1977 and 2001, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, reviewed a number of events that he witnessed in his working life that also included his work as his country's ambassador to the Kingdom United States in 2002, as well as ambassador to the United States in 2005.
Sultanate of Oman and Saudi Arabia
The former Saudi intelligence official - who is the youngest son of King Faisal - touched on many events related to the Gulf region, including the Dhofar Revolution in Oman, which began before Sultan Qaboos took power.
He pointed out that during that period, the Kingdom had not yet recognized the Sultanate of Oman, and that communication with Saudi Arabia was one of the first things that Sultan Qaboos did after his assumption of power, which ended the dispute between the two countries and was followed by King Faisal’s reception of Sultan Qaboos in Riyadh and the Kingdom’s provision of aid to the Sultanate. And the beginning of diplomatic representation between the two countries.
Saudi Arabia and Iran
With regard to the Kingdom's relationship with Iran, Al-Faisal explained that the Shah of Iran had ambitions in the Gulf region, especially in Bahrain, but the talks that took place between the Shah of Iran and King Faisal removed this trend and ended with Iran’s recognition of Bahrain’s independence against the backdrop of the referendum that took place at the time.
He explained that the Shah at the same time agreed with the British - when they announced their withdrawal from the region - on the occupation of the Emirati islands, and that the occupation of those islands took place with an English green light, and despite that the Saudi relationship with the Shah's regime continued until the Iranian revolution in 1979.
He added that there was a contract to supply kerosene to Iran, which Saudi Arabia was keen to keep standing and not cancel, but rather to send some signals to the Khomeini regime to explore the situation, until it became clear later that the anti-Kingdom approach by the Khomeini regime became clear.
He also indicated that the Kingdom continued to share information with America without hesitation during the American hostage crisis in Iran in 1979, and during that period, President Jimmy Carter approved a deal of warplanes for the benefit of the Kingdom.
The Haram al-Makki incident
Regarding the incident of Gehman Al-Otaibi storming the Grand Mosque in Mecca in November 1979, Al-Faisal affirmed that it was not expected that anyone would think of occupying the Holy Mosque in Mecca by force of arms, and despite that this group had precedents in their behavior and security dealings with them in the Kingdom.
He stated that before the attack on the campus, Juhayman and his companions distributed leaflets talking about the appearance of the awaited Mahdi, and they were summoned to police stations and undertakings were taken on them not to repeat this, but he could not imagine that they would occupy the Haram.
He explained that the British archive's information that he (Turki Al-Faisal) supervised the operation was incorrect, as his time was in Tunisia to attend the Arab Summit with the Crown Prince at that time, Prince Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, who assigned him to return and relay what is happening to him, and that who supervised The operation is Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz and Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Defense and Interior at the time.
He pointed out that the security services supervised the process of dealing with them from the Al-Ashraf building facing the campus, and that they had sought help from clerics to issue fatwas to shoot and storm the campus, and that the attackers hid in the basements under the floor of the campus after the forces succeeded in entering its yard.
He added that because of the difficulty in storming these cellars and retreats, the Kingdom requested France to supply it with gas that paralyzes the movement of the intruders, and that a team of 3 members of the French intelligence has already landed in Taif, and trained Saudi intelligence personnel to use these gases.
Juhayman Group
He stated that the Juhayman group had limited activity to print some myths and incorrect hadiths about the awaited Mahdi in Kuwait without the knowledge of the authorities, because they used Saudi printing presses belonging to them.
Al-Faisal denied that he had information about the authenticity of the novel by the authors of the book "So that Juhayman would not return" regarding the membership of the three Kuwaitis: Jaber Al-Jalahmah, the well-known jihadist, the thinker Dr. Abdullah Al-Nafisi, and Khaled Al-Adwa, who later became a member of the Kuwaiti Parliament, in the Salafi Group, to which Juhayman belongs, confirming That the investigations at the time of taking over the intelligence did not prove their membership.
Likewise, Al-Faisal denied monitoring any relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait with the support of Juhayman or printing books for his group in the Al-Tali’a presses affiliated with the Kuwaiti Communists, which is the novel published by the Saudi writer Muhammad Al-Saadi in the newspaper Okaz, indicating that no information on this matter was received until he left him For intelligence.
The Iran-Iraq War
And on the Iran-Iraq war, Al-Faisal mentioned that Saddam Hussein started the war with Iran in September 1980, taking advantage of the skirmishes that occurred on the borders between the two countries. It is known that after the Iranian revolution a civil war broke out in Iran between Khomeini’s supporters and opponents. Meanwhile, some skirmishes occurred on the border, beginning in 1979 until Saddam declared the start of the war.
He added that Saddam announced at the time the cancellation of the Algiers agreement that was signed with the shah, as well as the Shatt al-Arab agreement, and began sending his forces into Iran after he claimed Iranian attacks.
He stressed that the late King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz advised Saddam to stay away from the war with Iran, which was exhausted at the time with a civil war, especially since any foreign war would unite the Iranians, which is not in the interest of Iraq or the Gulf, and he pointed out that Saddam returned 3 years after the start of the war to confirm his remorse for Not taking that advice.
He explained that King Fahd did not provide Saddam with any money during the first two years of the war that he was the initiator of, and that when Iraq announced the withdrawal of its forces and then Khomeini responded by declaring war on Saddam, Gulf and international support for Iraq began, as France, Britain, America and even Russia helped him.
He stated that the Kingdom's aid included building an oil pipeline to Iraq so that it could export oil through Saudi territory, and that Iran tried to bomb some Saudi lands in 1984, but the Saudi defense confronted it and shot down two planes, and then put what was called the Fahd Line to protect the Gulf region.
Regarding the background of the ceasefire between the two countries, Al-Faisal said that one of the Western diplomats told Prince Saud Al-Faisal at the time that Iran believes that if Iraq is ready for a ceasefire, there must be an indication of it.
He stated that Al-Faisal called King Fahd, who spoke to President Saddam Hussein, and returned minutes later to inform Prince Saud Al-Faisal of Iraq’s acceptance of a ceasefire, which is what actually happened between the two countries.
Establishment of the Cooperation Council
And on Kuwait’s initiative to establish the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Kuwaiti thinker Abdullah Al-Nafisi’s opinion in a previous interview with the same program that “the council was a political umbrella for an American military project hostile to Iran,” Al-Faisal said: “The council was a very wise move from Kuwait to protect the interests of the Gulf states. Its establishment stemmed from an urgent Gulf interest that is still in place to confront any threat threatening the region. "
Support Afghanistan
Regarding the Saudi support for the Afghan mujahideen in their war against the Soviets, Al-Faisal said that Afghanistan was the first Islamic country to recognize King Abdul Aziz. When the founding king entered Mecca, he was among the foreign representations in which the representative of Afghanistan was present, and at that time it was an independent state with its status, and in the meantime the king got On their recognition of the entity that established him and then became the kingdom.
He explained that the support for jihadist organizations many years later came to provide protection to Pakistan, the neighboring Islamic State, as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan had fears of an extension of the Soviet aggression to it and then to the area known as the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf.
Al-Faisal added that after the Soviet invasion, it was agreed with the Pakistani President, Zia ul-Haq, and the Americans to provide financial and military support to the mujahideen with Saudi-American money, and to pass it on to the mujahideen, and this agreement continued until the last Soviet soldier withdrew from Afghanistan.
Al-Faisal indicated that arms were bought from only two countries, Egypt and China, and that the agreement with Egypt was made by the Americans with the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in light of the severing of relations, and after him President Hosni Mubarak, indicating that both Saudi Arabia and America were keen on the absence of Any evidence of their interference could be exploited by the Soviets to occupy Pakistan.
On the status of the Arab mujahideen, Al-Faisal explained that they arrived there as volunteers for relief work after the occupation of Afghanistan and the refuge of millions of its inhabitants to Pakistan, and that some of them later joined the fight, indicating that he dealt with the leaders of 7 Afghan jihadist organizations, including the Islamic Party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. And Burhanuddin Rabbani, and the two had a relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.