An admirer of Bin Laden is the new Saudi ambassador in the US. Well, it looks like you will be getting a new Saudi ambassador in the US. But in a piece in the New York Times today, we are assured that he has stopped cultivating his famous ties with Taliban and Bin Laden. In fact, you should see how fondly he still remembers Bin Laden (who he used to arm and finance), and whom he calls "do-gooder." (interview with Independent). In an interview with Der Spiegel, he says (about Bin Laden): "At first he seemed shy, friendly, almost gentle. He was soft-spoken, a man of sparse sentences. Our first meeting must have taken place around 1984, and the last one in 1989 or 1990...His presence, dignified and reserved, must have made an impression on the Afghans back then." This is Saudi Arabia's new ambassador. But he also has one of the biggest palaces in the Kingdom, and has successfully exploited the real estate and rent market in Saudi Arabia in partnership with Lebanese deputy Muhammad Safadi.