U.S.-Saudi Tensions High Before Talks
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin Powell cast doubts Wednesday on what the Saudis have told Washington about their relations with terrorists, one day before a meeting between President Bush and Crown Prince Abdullah.
U.S. officials received assurances that the $100 million raised in a recent Saudi telethon was not going to suicide bombers or their families, but to rebuild Palestinian areas damaged in the Mideast conflict.
But on Wednesday, Powell told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the money actually went to Hamas, the pro-Palestinian terrorist organization that has taken responsibility for many suicide bombings in Israel.
"We have seen some indications — and we've even seen an Arab newspaper, handed to me by [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat, I might add — where some of the money, at least according to this Arab newspaper advertisement, would be going to elements of Hamas. So there are some troubling aspects as to how that telethon money would be distributed," he said.
The skepticism at the State Department represents just one example of the disconnect between the nations as the two leaders come to the table Thursday.
Praised for being a moderate and ally in the U.S. war against terrorism, Abdullah brings with him a peace plan for the Middle East, which would offer Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the return of Arab lands seized in the 1967 six-day war — a plan that the Israelis have not said they would endorse.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah
Still, experts caution that it is unlikely any major agreements will be reached except for perhaps some minor but politically meaningful steps toward Middle East peace.
That could be attributable to Abdullah's tenuous position as leader of a nation whose Islamic clerics and Arab populace accuse the United States of allowing Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
"There is more tension, more anti-U.S. feelings... than in a long time," said Anthony Cordesman, a former undersecretary for national security and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "People are very angry at Israel. They link the U.S. to this."
According to reports, some mosques in Saudi Arabia have been ending dawn and evening prayers with a call for the destruction of the United States, and public demonstrations against the United States and Jews have become more tolerated by the regime since the days immediately following Sept. 11.
The Saudi government is closely aligned with the powerful Islamist hierarchy, which has been responsible for a number of hate-filled speeches in recent weeks. In one diatribe at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, carried by several Arabic TV and radio networks, Sheik Abdul-Rahman al Sudais prayed to Allah to "terminate the Jews," whom he called "the scum of humanity."
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s longtime ambassador to Britain published a poem last week saying the bombers died "to honor my God’s world."
Experts said Wednesday that Bush must balance longtime U.S support for Israel with the tenuous relationship the country has with Saudi Arabia, the world’s chief oil exporter and strategic representative of the Arab world. The goal of Thursday’s talks at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, would be to quell anti-U.S. anger by indicating to Abdullah that the United States supports a movement toward an Arab-favored peace, while not hurting the Israeli friendship.
"I think there is going to be more pressure on President Bush than Crown Prince Abdullah because we need Saudi Arabia more than Saudi Arabia needs us," asserted Rob Sobhani, an Islamic studies professor at Georgetown University who just returned from a trip to the region.
Sobhani said Bush must help restore U.S. credibility to the region in order to maintain a coalition for the war on terror and for any future action against Iraq, and to maintain global energy security. But all of it will rest on an agreement on how to deal with the Middle East.
"I think Abdullah is going to ask Bush to put pressure on Israel and Bush is going to ask Abdullah to calm down the anger in the Saudi Arabian public against Jews," he said, adding that if Abdullah feels an understanding is reached between the two leaders, he will be able to convey it to the Arab world effectively.
Cordesman points out that there is a lot of mistrust on both sides. Arabs in that region have heard recent declarations by members of the U.S. Congress to stick by their Israeli brethren, and Americans are leery of a nation that says publicly it is a friend, while protesters burn American flags on the street.
Nevertheless, he said, both sides need to stop elevating suspicions.
"The United States and Western media have given the Saudi government far too much blame for the actions of Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda," he said. "At the same time the Saudi government did fail to properly monitor the growing threat such movements pose," and did not effectively stem the flow of Saudi money to terrorist organizations.
"We are not far apart on what we would like to see – I think both Prince Abdullah and Bush both share that goal. I think there is hope," he added.
Fox News' James Rosen and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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