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Saudi view disavowed { August 7 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50595-2002Aug6.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50595-2002Aug6.html
Views Aired In Briefing On Saudis Disavowed
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 7, 2002; Page A14
The Bush administration distanced itself yesterday from a Pentagon briefing that described Saudi Arabia as an adversary of the United States and a backer of terrorism, with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld saying it doesn't represent the views of the U.S. government and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell repeating that message in a call to the Saudi foreign minister.
The briefing to the Defense Policy Board, a Pentagon advisory panel made up of former senior officials and retired top military officers, recommended that U.S. officials demand that Saudi Arabia stop supporting terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and its financial assets invested in the United States.
"The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain," asserted the briefing, which was delivered on July 10 by Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corp. international security analyst. It also said that "Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies."
Rumsfeld, speaking at a meeting with Pentagon employees, called the publication of an article about the briefing in yesterday's Washington Post "unfortunate." He went on to attack the unidentified person who leaked the briefing, saying, "I just think it's a terribly unprofessional thing to do and clearly harmful."
He said that the briefing does not represent "dominant opinion" within the U.S. government. But he went on to say that Saudi Arabia is still grappling with the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers who crashed four airliners into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center towers and a field in Pennsylvania last Sept. 11 were Saudi citizens.
"It is correct, as apparently someone said in the briefing, that a number of the people who were involved on September 11th happen to have been Saudi individuals and that there are those issues that Saudi Arabia is wrestling with, just as other countries of the world are wrestling with them," he said.
State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker said that Powell, in his conversation with Prince Saud Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, reassured the Saudi government that the Rand analyst's briefing does not "reflect the views of the president of the United States or of the U.S. government."
U.S.-Saudi relations are "excellent," Reeker continued. "We share a broad array of interests, including a common vision of peace, stability and prosperity in the region," he said. That assertion contrasts somewhat with comments made privately by administration officials that the Saudi response to terrorism since Sept. 11 has been mixed at best and notably less vigorous than that of some other countries.
In his own statement, Saud said, "It is unfortunate that there are people in some quarters who are trying to cast doubt and undermine the solid and historic ties between our two countries. I am confident they will not succeed."
Rand, a public policy think tank that frequently consults with the Pentagon and other parts of the government, also issued a statement, in which it said that the briefing represented only the views of Murawiec, not those of Rand or the agencies that sponsor its research.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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