A paid for political announcement
Saudi prince donates $10 million
to Trade Center fund but
criticizes U.S. policies
By Katherine Roth, Associated Press, 10/11/01
NEW YORK -- An outspoken
member of the Saudi royal family
issued a statement criticizing U.S.
policies in the Middle East while
visiting the World Trade Center
ruins and presenting the city with a
$10 million check for relief efforts.
The comments by Prince Alwaleed
Bin Talal drew a rebuke from Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani, who said that
such remarks "were part of the
problem" behind the Sept. 11
terrorist attack.
The prince, a major investor in
American companies and one of
hundreds of princes in the Saudi
royal family, toured ground zero
and called it "a tremendous crime."
"It's just unbelievable," he said.
"We are here to tell America and to
tell New York that Saudi Arabia is
with the United States
wholeheartedly."
But in a statement distributed by
an aide, the prince said that "at
times like this one we must
address some of the issues that
led to such a criminal attack."
"I believe the government of the
United States of America should
re-examine its policies in the
Middle East and adopt a more
balanced stance toward the
Palestinian cause," Alwaleed said.
"Our Palestinian brethren continue
to be slaughtered at the hands of
Israelis while the world turns the
other cheek."
Alwaleed is chairman of Kingdom
Holding Co. and was sixth on
Forbes magazine's list of the
world's richest men for 2001.
Giuliani, in a news conference later
at City Hall, expressed his dismay
with Alwaleed's remarks.
"There is no moral equivalent for
this attack," the mayor said. "The
people who did it lost any right to
ask for justification when they
slaughtered 5,000, 6,000 innocent
people. ... Not only are those
statements wrong, they're part of
the problem."
The prince did not criticize U.S.
policies in his speech, saying
instead, "I came here to show my
allegiance to New York."
Alwaleed said prime terrorism
suspect Osama bin Laden, a
Saudi, does not represent the
Wahabi sect of Islam, which is
practiced only in Saudi Arabia.
"This guy does not belong to
Wahabis," he said. "He does not
belong to Islam or any religion in
the whole world." |
