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To: Softechie who wrote (5125)	1/26/2003 11:55:13 AM
From: Softechie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29602

CAPITAL VIEWS: US Economy's Health `Paramount` To Saudis 24 Jan 14:35 By John Connor A Dow Jones Newswires Column WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, dropped by a meeting of U.S. mayors this week to chat up officials who like to say they're in daily front-line contact with real people. His visit suggests anew how much the Saudis would like to salve the wounds of 9/11 and reach out to Americans beyond the diplomatic set and four star generals and higher. Prince Bandar let it be known right off the bat that he's a Dallas Cowboy fan. The Prince no doubt struck a responsive chord with some of the assembled members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors when he told them that "after 20 years in this great capital of yours, I learned that if I want to keep my sanity, I have to leave every two weeks, three weeks, outside (to) meet real people. Otherwise, one can go crazy easily in this town. And you are the people or you represent the people that I enjoy visiting with." Prince Bandar recalled that the Saudis' relationship with the U.S. goes back to the 1920s and started with the private sector, not the U.S. government. "We were looking for water, and somebody found oil. And Saudi Arabia has never been the same since," he said. The ambassador noted that his country never was a colony "because, before the oil, we had nothing to colonize, except desert and camels, and after the oil, it was not fashionable to be colonialist." After commenting on 9/11 - "I have never had a more painful and shocking event that happened in my life compared to 9/11...a tragedy by all measures...evil" and "our relationship was the target of that attack" - Prince Bandar said the Saudis have always felt that "when the American friends catch cold, we catch pneumonia in our part of the world. "So the health of your economy, for example, is paramount to us because it does affect us and affect our daily lives," he told the mayors. "Hence," he observed, "about four or five days ago, Saudi Arabia has managed to get OPEC, for example, to increase oil production a million and a half" barrels a day to dampen the effect of the shortfall from Venezuela. "And my government is ready to do more in the next two, three weeks, if we see the price is not stabilizing, and particularly going down to below $28," the Prince said. During the question and answer period, the Prince was asked, first crack out of the box, how he'd feel if 15 or 19 Americans went to Saudi Arabia and caused the damage there that was caused to the U.S. by Saudi citizens on Sept. 11, 2001. "I think I will feel no difference than how Americans felt when 9/11 took place," he said, later adding that the whole story of 9/11 is not out yet. Asked if American aircraft will be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabian airspace or not in the event of a war with Iraq, Prince Bandar said that "without saying so much about overflights or no overflights, just do not believe what you read." Subscribers can find Capital Views on: Telerate page [4021] Dow Jones Newswires by searching the code N/POV Bloomberg by entering NI POV Reuters by entering keyword Capital Views (John Connor, a veteran observer of the financial markets and the Washington scene, is Washington bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires. He can be reached by E-Mail at John.Connor@DowJones.Com) (END) Dow Jones Newswires 01-24-03 1435ET