A Washington diplomatic mystery swirled around the sudden resignation of Saudi Arabia's ambassador here, baffling foreign policy experts and injecting new intrigue into US-Saudi relations.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, one of the most influential foreign envoys here and steward of the key and sometimes uneasy alliance between the world's sole superpower and the Gulf oil state, abruptly quit on Monday, Saudi sources said.
The shock resignation -- after only 15 months on the job -- and the Prince's immediate departure from the United States, came after he told staff Monday he wanted to spend more time with his family, an embassy official said.
"It is very strange, and to most of us very surprising," said Michael Hudson, a Saudi watcher and professor of Arab Studies at Georgetown University.
"What goes on in Saudi Arabia, it is a very opaque kind of place, is very hard to tell. This sudden, very abrupt departure is very unusual and makes you think something else is going on," he said.
Theories, ranging from suggestions that Prince Turki had won a sudden promotion or was the victim of bureaucratic back-stabbing in Riyadh, soon spread among diplomats and officials in Washington.
Some observers toyed with outside speculation that Saudi Arabia may even be sending a message to Washington over its dismay with Iraq's descent into chaos and could send a replacement less acceptable to Washington than Prince Turki.
More outlandish theories of palace turmoil in the Saudi royal family meanwhile spawned on Internet websites.
The Washington Post floated an early theory Tuesday, hours after Prince Turki's departure, suggesting he may be in line to replace his ailing brother Prince Saud al-Faisal as foreign minister.
Online intelligence service Stratfor also lent credibility to the idea.
"His likely grooming for the foreign ministry is further evidence that both Riyadh and Washington hold him in a favorable light," it said.
The official at the Saudi embassy declined to discuss various theories of Prince Turki's departure but did say: "All we know is that his brother is very ill, it could be that he might be taking over, but we don't know."
Asked about such a scenario, a source in Riyadh said: "I doubt it."
Steven Clemons, foreign policy analyst at the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank, said Saudi insiders told him Prince Turki had simply had enough of back-stabbing by those opposed to reform in the Saudi government.
"It's terrible for us if he leaves. His departure is a huge negative for us," said Clemons, arguing Prince Turki's influence would have been felt in Washington as President George W. Bush gropes for a new strategy in Iraq.
Prince Turki's shrewd maneuvering in the Gulf and the Middle East could also have smoothed any subsequent US outreach to Syria, Iran or regional states and if Washington tries to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, he said.
The shock departure thickened intrigue in Saudi-US relations, amid signs Riyadh may be concerned about the US failure to quell raging violence in Iraq.
An opinion article last month in the Washington Post by Prince Turki's then security advisor Nawaf Obaid, jolted Saudi watchers here with a warning that a US pullout from Iraq would lead to "massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shiite militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis."
The article said Saudi King Abdullah had fended off intense pressure to provide financial and arms support for Iraq's Sunnis from Sunni leaders inside Saudi Arabia.
Prince Turki was forced to distance himself from the article and said he had dispensed with Obaid's services.
But the piece appeared days after Vice President Dick Cheney paid a sudden visit to Saudi Arabia, and stoked speculation of rising dismay in Riyadh with the Bush administration.
Cheney's trip was billed as a chance to consult the Saudi government on regional matters, but some observers here suspect he was instead summoned to Riyadh.
Prince Turki's departure will also deprive Washington's diplomatic circuit of one of its banner stars.
The ambassador made a series of pointed critiques of US policy in the Middle East and Iraq in particular in recent months, drawing large numbers of analysts, diplomats and reporters.
Prince Turki said he believed Washington should engage Iran and press for progress between Israel and the Palestinians.
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