Earlier in the week, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah accused Britain of not taking terrorism seriously enough. Now, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi's ex-ambassador to the United States says the Kingdom could have stopped 9/11 — if only the U.S. had asked for its help. Bandar, who presently holds the post of King Abdullah's national security adviser, told the Al-Arabiya network that Saudi intelligence had been "actively following" most of the September 11, 2001, plotters "with precision." 

Seems like the tongue of one Ambassador contradicts the pen of another. The following is from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence unclassified document — one which identifies the author of a poem praising female suicide bomber Ayat Ahkras as being written "by the Saudi Ambassador to Great Britain," Dr. Ghazi Algosaibi.  

Back in 2002, the British government chastised Ambassador Algosaibi for praising people who murder in the name of Allah, but took no action other than having a chat with the diplomat. As reported by the BBC.

The poem, entitled The Martyrs, praised Ayat Akhras, an 18-year-old Palestinian who blew herself up in a Jerusalem supermarket on 29 March, killing two Israelis and wounding 25.

"Doors of heaven are opened for her," wrote Dr Algosaibi, who has been Saudi Arabia's ambassador in London for more than a decade.

A Foreign Office spokesman said a senior official would be speaking to the ambassador.

"We regard suicide bombings as a form of terrorism, and we would like to make our views known to the Saudi ambassador," said a spokesman.

However, he added that no further action would be taken. 

You can download an image of the Saudi Ambassador's tributary poem to a suicide bomber as a pdf file here. Here's how the USG had it translated:

May Allah witness that you are Martyrs,
[May the] Prophet and Holy men witness to that
You died to glorify the word of my God
In the land that was glorified with the 'Israa'
Did you commit suicide?
[No] We are those who committed suicide
In a life whose dead are [still] living… Tell 'Ayat' the
bride of heaven…
Everything that is beautiful we are ready

Bandar's comments are offensive for sure. A "knowledgeable U.S. official" told CNN that Bandar's comments should be taken 'with a grain of salt.' But the Al-Arabiya anchor neglected to ask ex-Ambassador Bandar the most important question: for what purpose were those dreaded Saudi intelligence agents trailing the 9/11 "martyrs" after all?

Perhaps it was so that an Ambassador could write them tributary poems.

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