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In the spring of 2001, George W. Bush selected Dallas attorney Robert W. Jordan as the ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Jordan's nomination sped through Congress in the wake of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and he was at his post by early October, though with no prior diplomatic experience, as Saudi Arabia mandates that the U.S. Ambassador be a political appointee with the ear of the president. Hence Jordan had to learn on the job how to run an embassy, deal with a foreign culture, and protect U.S. interests, all following the most significant terrorist attacks on the United States in history. From 2001 through 2003, Jordan worked closely with Crown Prince Abdullah and other Saudi leaders on sensitive issues of terrorism and human rights, all the while trying to maintain a positive relationship to ensure their cooperation with the war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. At the same time he worked with top officials in Washington, including President Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, and Tommy Franks. Desert Diplomat discusses these relationships as well as the historic decisions of Jordan's tenure and provides a candid and thoughtful assessment of the sometimes distressing dysfunction in the conduct of American foreign policy, warfare, and intelligence gathering. Still involved in the Middle East, Jordan also offers important insights into the political, economic, and social changes occurring in this critical region, particularly Saudi Arabia.

It’s January 2002. We’re attending a uso show at the Eskan Village American military compound outside Riyadh. The comedian Drew Carey spots me in the front row and pulls me up onstage to join the Improv All-Stars from the popular television show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As I reluctantly climb onto the stage, the hundreds of servicemen and servicewomen at the show go wild. “What do you like to do, Mr. Ambassador?” Carey asks. “Watch nfl football and go out to dinner,” I say. “What else?” “I like to play golf when I can.” The comedian turns to the

I have lived half of the last thirteen years in the Middle East. My work has immersed me in the politics, business, and culture of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and occasionally other states of the Middle East. I’ve seen up close the aftermath of the most horrific attack on American soil in history. I’ve negotiated with, cajoled, and threatened officials standing in the way of the pursuit of American national interests, and I’ve supported many of the same people when they have been unfairly dismissed, ignored, or stereotyped by American bureaucrats, congressmen, or journalists. I’ve seen a war

This is how the Washington rumor mill works. On July 9, 2003, a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper asserts that remarks I made regarding Saudi succession in the Kingdom have angered the royal family. That paper, al-Quds-al-Arabi, is not a friend to the United States nor to Saudi Arabia. Indeed, according to the Washington Institute, it “has long been critical of Riyadh and … has published communiqués by both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Husayn.”¹ Ten weeks later, the now-defunct Saudi Information Agency—described by the Center for Media and Democracy as a “dissident independent news agency based in Washington, dc”²—picked

Ambassadors, like parents, dread receiving unexpected late-night phone calls. And so I feared bad news when I was startled out of sleep by the ring of my private line on May 12, 2003. That fear was immediately confirmed by the tense, worried voice on the other end. Margaret Scobey was calling from her residence to tell me that around 10:30 pm there had been a bombing at the Al Hamra Oasis Village, an upscale Riyadh compound that was home to Americans as well as Saudis and other Arabs. There were many casualties, she said. This was the moment I prayed