How did you feel about Michael Moore's ''Fahrenheit 9/11,'' in which he accuses Prince Bandar, your predecessor in Washington, of colluding with the Bush administration to sneak members of the Saudi royal family out of this country right after 9/11?
What made me unhappy is that Mr. Moore made a point of criticizing Saudi Arabia without even having set foot in Saudi Arabia.
Do you see the war in Iraq as the main cause of anti-Americanism around the world today?
Iraq is an adjunct, but not the core issue. If Iraq is solved, Palestine will remain a sore point for Arabs everywhere.
Are you saying that the U.S. has been too soft on Israel?
Absolutely. I cannot see any logic in it, seeing how badly the U.S. is looked upon, not just in the Arab world but in the wider Muslim world.
Are you religious? I see you dress in Western clothing.
I pray five times a day. In Muslim practice, there are parts of the body you have to cover completely in public, and it doesn't matter how you cover it. This is a suit I bought in Paris.
I don't mean to make you feel unimportant, but aren't you one of some 6,000 Saudi princes?
I haven't counted, so I don't know.
The gap between the rich and the poor in your country is colossal.
I think that is another misconception. Let's talk about America. You have more than 30 million people under the poverty line in America. That is not a few people!
As a son of the late King Faisal, are you accustomed to getting everything you want?
Being the son of a king is no different than being the son of a journalist or anyone else. I went to Princeton and spent only one term there. I failed all my engineering courses, so I was kicked out of Princeton. Georgetown was good enough to take me.
Before I go, I have to ask you, why is green the national color of Saudi Arabia?
Because we are a desert country whose ultimate ambition is to turn green.
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