AS ANNOUNCED ON Wednesday, July 20, Saudi Arabia’s long-serving ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, is leaving town. Allegedly, he resigned. The dean of the foreign diplomatic corps in Washington will be replaced by Prince Turki al Faisal, the former intelligence chief of the kingdom.

Seeing the last of the unctuous Bandar will be viscerally pleasing to many Americans and to Saudi liberal dissidents. The now-former ambassador was disliked by embassy staff for his personal corruption, favoritism, and arbitrary cruelties. And questions about the role of his wife, Princess Haifa, in sending money to participants in the September 11 conspiracy have never been answered.