When a 2003 congressional panel issued a
report on the roots of the 9/11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 perpetrators
were Saudis, containing 28 superclassified pages that described evidence of
possible Saudi funding for two of the hijackers, the Saudis descended on the
capital, eager to dispute the charges and reassure George W. Bush and his
administration.
One of the meetings was on July 29, according to lobbying
records reviewed by Newsweek. The Saudis' leading Washington fixer, Adel
Al-Jubeir, met with Karl Rove to, among other things, "give a status briefing
on the Kingdom's reform efforts and war against terrorism."
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Chief Correspondent Howard Fineman and Investigative Correspondent Michael
Isikoff report in the Feb. 21 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday,
Feb. 14) that the sit-down was arranged by former Texas congressman Tom
Loeffler, an elite fund-raiser for Bush's campaigns who had been hired as a
lobbyist for the Saudis.
The meeting was Al-Jubeir's second with Rove; the
first was three months after 9/11. A source close to the Saudis insisted that
the sessions were a mere "courtesy." But since Rove's domain was American
politics - not foreign policy - why arrange them at all? "Isn't it obvious?" the
source replied.
Now it is - more than ever, report Fineman and Isikoff. Last week the White
House made it official, announcing that "The Architect" of the 2004
victory - indeed, of Bush's entire political career - would become a deputy chief
of staff, while keeping his existing titles of senior adviser and assistant to
the president.
White House aides were intent on downplaying the import of the
move, even leaking names of obscure functionaries who supposedly had been
considered for the job.
Andy Card - known to fear the gravitational pull of
Rove's close relationship with the president - will remain as the chief of
staff, they insisted; a source close to him says that Card will stay at least
through 2006. Rove, insiders said, wouldn't want Card's job anyway, at least
in its current configuration, which is more paper flow than policy.
And as usual in bureaucratic Washington, the real story lay not in the
nomenclature but in the real estate: Rove is moving from upstairs to down,
just around the corner from the Oval Office. "In a way, the appointment just
confirms reality," said GOP consultant Charlie Black. But, in a city in which
the biggest secrets are the open ones, "this is still a big deal."
And while in the first term Rove focused his attention to detail on the
fine points of domestic policy, he has also dabbled in foreign policy. He
brokered a deal in 2001 to end the U.S. Navy's use of a training ground in
Puerto Rico - a sensitive issue with Hispanics - and he has steeped himself in
the Arab-Israeli dispute. Rove helped to draft Bush's pivotal speech on the
issue in 2002 - in which the president declared Yasser Arafat persona non grata.
He traveled with the president to Egypt in 2003. Now, Newsweek has learned,
Rove has privately expressed interest in traveling to the region on his own
this year.
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