Princess Haifa

Submitted by Hans Theerman (Germany), Dec 4, 2002 at 21:17

Mr. Pipes,

This is a copy of my response to the NY Times editorial - reprinted in the Int'l Herald Tribune - regarding Princess Haifa's money connection:

Mr. Donahue,

Your lead editorial in today's IHT holds a small error with great implications, regarding Princess Haifa who stands accused of being the conduit of funds that partly supported two of the September 11th hijackers.

You state that because her, "...father, King Faisal, was murdered by an Islamic extremist...", she was therefore, "...unlikely to have been aware of any connection..." with the terrorists.

Unless the NY Times' editorial writers were sleeping through the 70's (or possibly not yet born), they should be well aware that, Faisal ben Musaed, the king's assassin (and nephew, therefore cousin to the princess), was never confirmed to be connected in any way with "Islamic extremists", despite the official claim that the king was 'martyred'.

I knew Musaed (in passing) as one of the large contingent of middle eastern engineering students at the University of Colorado in the late 60's and early 70's. He was a drug addict and dealer, drank heavily, and had quite a number of girlfriends -- hardly a model of islamic rectitude -- until he was finally brought back to Saudi Arabia and forbidden by King Faisal to travel for two years.

His separation from his high-living lifestyle and his girlfriend was the most likely source of his anger, which was possibly channeled by others in the royal family threatened by the king's changes in the rules of royal succession. It was just shortly after these changes that Musaed assassinated his uncle.

Rather than seeing him as an "Islamic extremist", his cousin, Princess Haifa, has more likely viewed him and his resulting actions as an example of western corruption, and therefore more, instead of less, likely to have sympathy for the islamicists' goals.

Hans Theerman
Berlin, Germany

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