DJ US-Saudi Ties Under 'Extreme Strain' - Saudi Foreign Min
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A day after U.S. President George W. Bush's meeting
with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah produced a barrage of generally negative press
reports, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said "Saudi bashing" in
the U.S. media has brought his country's strategic alliance with the U.S. under
"extreme strain" and joint efforts are needed to save the "special
relationship" from further damage.
"Recently this relationship has come under extreme strain," Prince Faisal
told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday. "A
critical juncture has been reached, and unless joint efforts are brought to
bear to redress and rectify the underlying causes, the damage may be grave."
Prince Faisal spoke after Bush and Abdullah met Monday at the president's
ranch in Crawford, Texas. While the meeting was meant to highlight significance
both sides attach to the 70-year-old U.S.-Saudi "special relationship," Bush's
failure to win a pledge from the Saudis to take immediate action to lower
soaring oil prices sparked criticism from Democrats and some media
commentators.
Prince Faisal's remarks appeared part of a broader Saudi campaign to counter
what they see as unfair criticism of the kingdom and its policies. To that end,
Saudi Arabia has spent millions of dollars in public relations efforts to
improve its image in the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of bin Laden and 15 of the 19 Sept. 11
hijackers.
Prince Faisal said that while Saudi Arabia was the target of some criticism
prior to September 11, the onslaught of attacks has since grown "intense and,
at times, purposefully malicious."
Blaming "instant experts and even respected think tanks and political
figures" for most of these attacks, he said these strident criticisms are
hampering Saudi efforts to fight terrorism and deepen religious opposition to
reform measures.
"They see and interpret these attacks not as the erroneous and misguided
reactions to the tragedy of 9/11, but as a purposeful intent to undermine the
social fabrics of Saudi society," he said. The attacks "are accomplishing
exactly the opposite and making the government's task of reform much more
difficult."
However, Saudi Arabia remains committed to reform regardless of "where the
opposition is coming from and where the external pressure is being applied," he
said.
Describing al-Qaida as an extremist cult that espouses the radical ideology
of the Muslim Brotherhood, the pan-Islamist organization with offshoots
throughout the Middle East and North Africa, he sought to distance the
conservative Saudi religious establishment from the terrorist group, saying the
religious conservatives can discredit al-Qaida.
"It is the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia that in fact is proving to
be the body most qualified to deligitimize al-Qaida's claims, the very
religious community that is being attacked and discredited," he said.
Al-Qaida wants to overthrow "all the governments of the Islamic countries,
and especially Saudi Arabia, for the purpose of re-establishing the Islamic
Caliphate with al-Qaida as its vanguard," he said.
He dismissed criticism that Saudi Arabia hasn't been cooperative in the war
on terrorism, citing a a recent report by an international body that lauded
Saudi measures to stop terror financing, saying the new regulations for Saudi
charities "probably go further than any country in the world." |
