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There are several
conferences on the Washington calendar where top decision makers and
thought leaders gather to discuss developments in the Middle East
and America's role there. One of the best is the annual conference
of the Middle East Institute
(MEI) which meets this week in Washington. Among the distinguished
speakers at the conference this year is newly posted Ambassador to
the United States, Prince Turki al Faisal.
Prince
Turki, the last son of King Faisal, was educated at Georgetown
University, Class of 1968 and went on to serve Saudi Arabia as the
Director General of the General Intelligence Directorate from 1977
through 2001. He most recently completed a posting as Saudi Arabia's
Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2003-2005 before replacing
Prince Bandar bin Sultan in Washington in September of this year as
the Kingdom's top diplomat in the United States.
Today we
are pleased to share with you Prince Turki's presentation to the MEI
conference where he provides an overview of the nature of the
terrorism threat and Saudi Arabia's commitment to fight alongside
the United States and the international community against it.
Prince
Turki Al-Faisal address to the 59th Annual Conference of the Middle
East Institute
Prepared
statement of Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Ambassador of the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia to the United States to the 59th Annual Conference of
the Middle East Institute,
Washington,
DC
November 8, 2005
Ladies
and Gentlemen: When Ambassador Walker invited me to speak to you
today, I remembered what my boss told me when I was appointed
ambassador.
He said:
“A diplomat will say yes when he means maybe; he will say maybe
when he means no; but if he says no, then he is no diplomat.” So
here I am not saying no to Ambassador Walker.
Forty
years ago, when I was a student at Georgetown University, the Middle
East Institute was the only organization dedicated to promoting
understanding of the Middle East. The fact that the institute is
still going strong is a tribute to its leadership and the relevance
of its mission.
It is a
privilege to be with you today at this important conference, and to
address you on one of the greatest challenges facing our world:
terrorism and the misunderstanding it has created about Islam and
the Islamic World.
The
scourge of terrorism has defiled our world. Nothing makes it right.
Nothing justifies it. It has ripped communities apart. It has eaten
away at international and cultural understanding. It has tried to
turn friends into enemies.
Terrorism
has become the biggest single threat to international peace and
stability.
Al-Qaeda,
and other groups like it, ladies and gentlemen, are evil cults with
a political terrorist agenda. They thrive on spreading fear and
destroying bonds between people and nations.
The
actions of these cults are condemned by all rational individuals and
governments; by people of every color, creed and persuasion; from
north to south and from east to west.
There are
those that would have you believe that the current wave of terrorism
springs from and is, or has been, supported by Saudi Arabia.
That is
absolutely not true. We have suffered as a result of terrorism. We
do not support them. We do not fund them. These terrorists are as
much against us as they are against you.
Yes, 15
of the 19 terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks were Saudi
citizens. This fact is a scar on our history. It is a burden that my
countrymen will have to live with for the rest of our lives. It is a
fact about which we are frequently reminded. But these deviants do
not represent Saudis or the Islamic faith.
We no
more supported the criminal act committed on September 11 than the
people of Italy or the Italian government supported the terrorist
activities of the Red Brigade, or the Germans supported the violence
of the Bader-Meinhof gang. As the 9/11 Commission stated: “We have
found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or
senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization.”
Terrorism
is not the exclusive domain of one people. It does not belong to one
time or to one place.
The
challenge posed by Al-Qaeda is that unlike other terrorist
organizations, it has no one declared enemy, and no one focus.
Al-Qaeda has pitted itself against the whole of humanity.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: Extremism is the mantra of a few, of a tiny group
whose minds have been twisted and turned to serve an evil agenda.
They have left logic, reason and compassion behind. They do not
belong to any nationality or any faith. They have disconnected
themselves from nations and peoples, from any true faith, and from
humanity as a whole. Bali, Madrid, London, Riyadh, New York, Sharm
Al-Sheikh, and Casablanca have all become compass points on the
global map of terror. There is no logic to these evil attacks, no
obvious target. The victims are old and young; Muslim, Christian,
Jew and Hindu; English, American and Saudi.
The
question we ask ourselves is why?
What
makes a man end his life and, in the process, take the lives of
innocent people?
Let me be
absolutely clear: It has nothing to do with any faith.
Much as
Al-Qaeda tries to connect its acts with Islam, it cannot, any more
than the Waco suicide pact of David Koresh and his Branch Davidians,
which killed 74 people, can claim to be Christian, or Baruch
Goldstein who massacred more than 20 Palestinians in a mosque in
Hebron can claim to be Jewish, or the suicide pact of the Order of
the Salar Temple which killed 56 people can claim to truly have
anything to do with Hinduism.
Al-Qaeda
is not, and never has been representative of Islam. Well before
9-11, religious scholars in Saudi Arabia had consistently and
unequivocally condemned terrorism in general and suicide bombings in
particular.
It is
true that our senior ulama – our religious scholars – follow a
fundamental school of Islam. It is true that they lead a morally
conservative life. But it is also true that they condemn all suicide
bombings and the taking of any innocent life.
It is to
our despair that terrorists claim to be faithful to Islam and
faithful to God. They are not.
They
wrongly attempt to use Islam to bolster and proselytize their
extremism. They wrongly pervert Islamic texts in order to support
their political agendas. They wrongly issue politically motivated
fatwas permitting suicide bombings and the taking of innocent lives.
They are
totally and utterly wrong and they are absolutely in violation of
the basic teachings of Islam. This is not Islam and these acts are
absolutely not the work of God.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: There is no faith that condones the taking of
innocent life or celebrates suicide.
“Thou
shalt not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments passed down to us
all by the Prophet Moses.
“Whoever
kills a person has killed the whole of humanity,” states one of
the best-known Qur’anic verses.
I believe
suicide reflects an individual’s alienation from God and from the
human family which binds us all together. This human bond transcends
all other divisions among us. It is at the heart of our survival as
human beings. It is a bond revealed at its best in moments of
tragedy – think of the heroes and heroines who came to the rescue
of the victims of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, or
Hurricane Katrina, or the terrible earthquake in Pakistan, or the
Asian Tsunami. Think of the people who put their lives at risk to
help others, who when hungry and cold share what little they have
with their neighbors.
This is
the best of humanity.
Let me
share with you something that was said recently by one of the
victims of the July 7 bombing in London this year. I was in London
at the time of the bombings, which occurred less than a mile from
our London embassy. The city came to a standstill. Dozens of people
were killed and hundreds cruelly and dreadfully injured and maimed.
Ian, a
young man traveling on the subway at the time of the attack was one
of those maimed for life. He was blasted out of his seat and thrown
out of the exploding carriage and against the electric cables of the
subway tunnel. His survival in itself was a miracle. In a report
broadcast three months after the attack, he remembered that terrible
day.
Recalling
the smoke, the fear, the shouting, he said – and I quote: “You
saw the best of humanity and the worst of humanity. What springs to
mind is not the worst of humanity. Anyone who straps explosives to
themselves to make a point, whatever point they are making is a
murderer and you cannot get into the mind of a murderer as a
rational person. So you focus on the best of humanity. What people
did to save other people, tearing off their clothes to use as
blankets and bandages, running for water, phoning the relatives of
people who were hurt.”
Ian
recalled a man reaching out and grabbing his leg and, despite his
own injuries, trying to pull this man from the pile of bodies
amassed around him. And he remembers trying to shake into
consciousness another man frozen with terror.
Despite
his own injuries, his instinct was to help others. He didn’t ask
who they were – whether they were white, black or Asian, whether
they were Christian, Jew or Muslim, whether they were old or young,
men or women. All he knew was that he must help them.
Allow me
to share with you another eyewitness account, this time about the
terrorist attacks in Riyadh in May of 2003. Talal, a young Saudi and
a resident of the Al-Hamra compound, had this to say:
“As a
resident of the Al-Hamra compound targeted by the terrorists in the
devastating attacks in Riyadh last week, I saw it happening before
my eyes. For the first time in my life I realized what the word ‘terrorism’
really means. It wasn’t anything like what we hear in theories and
hypotheses floating around or on television programs and comments.
It was something beyond human comprehension. On that day I lost a
number of good friends and neighbors, Muslims and non-Muslims alike,
with whom I had shared moments of joy and sorrow.
“On
that day I saw the flesh of innocent people who had been killed as
they slept. I saw bullets flying indiscriminately killing Muslims
and non-Muslims. I heard the cries and moaning of the injured whose
only fault was that they happened to be there at that particular
moment. I saw the door and windows of my own house being blown away
and glass flying everywhere. I was injured, but I must thank and
praise God for whatever comes from Him.
“I saw
the burned bodies of two small children still hugging each other. I
saw buildings collapse, fires raging and people dying.
“On
that night I realized our need to wake up from a long sleep and
confront the causes and conditions that allowed such a terrible
thing to happen. This is vitally necessary in order for neither
people nor government to become hostage to one group or a set of
ideas that wants to confine an entire population to the narrowest
kind of thought.”
There are
so many human stories like these from New York, Washington, Riyadh
and London. It is clear from these accounts that the pain inflicted
by terror transcends nationalities and religions. It affects all of
us as human beings.
This
natural humanity is our human bond.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: Like Ian and Talal, I do not believe we can
rationalize or understand those who carry out these evil crimes.
Terrorism
presents us with a stark vision of the terrible abyss in which
mankind can find itself. But as we stare into this abyss, we must
cling more tightly to our faith and to our belief in life and the
inherent goodness of man.
But who
are these terrorists? Why do they follow the twisted and evil path
of Al-Qaeda? They violate the principle of humanity, and the
teachings of their faith. They are criminals. Their twisted vision
is a cancer in the body of Islam that must and will be excised and
cast out.
It is
alien to the healthy body of the faith that holds the world’s one
billion Muslims together.
Muslims
are people of the book, along with Christians and Jews. Muslims
revere Abraham and Isaac and all the prophets of the Old and New
Testaments from Noah to Jesus. Together, we hold in common a belief
in one just and loving God, and in the sanctity of the life we have
been given. As it says in Deuteronomy (chapter 30 verse 19): “I
have set before you life and death, blessings and curses: choose
life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your
God, obeying him and hold fast to him.” This is an important
message for us all.
The
challenge is to find a way to root out this evil from our midst
without tearing apart communities and tearing to shreds friendships
built over 100 years or more.
It is
imperative that we find a way of destroying this evil cult which is
trying to contaminate the Islamic faith and drive a wedge of
destruction between East and West; between Muslim and Christian and
Jew.
How do we
meet this challenge?
First, we
must face the fact that these terrorists receive financial and
physical support, otherwise they could not survive.
We must
cut off this network of support. One country cannot do this alone.
This is an international organization that has spread its evil
tentacles across our precious world. And so the communities of the
world must stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight against these
terrorist organizations, against those who support them and against
those who condone their actions.
We in
Saudi Arabia are committed to this fight. As the Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has declared, we will show no mercy
to those who kill the innocent. We will fight them for as long as it
takes to destroy them. We will fight them for 10 or 20 or 30 years.
And in the end, God willing, we will rid our nation of this scourge.
In Saudi
Arabia we are fighting terrorism on every level.
First,
our security forces are actively tracking and chasing down any
terrorist groups or individuals found to be operating within the
Kingdom.
We have
questioned thousands of people. We have detained over 800 suspects.
We have killed or captured more than 100 known terrorists, and in
the process stifled over 50 terrorist attacks.
And we
have paid a steep price. More than 90 of our security forces have
lost their lives, and more than 150 have been injured in the line of
duty. For the sacrifices they have made to ensure the safety of our
citizens and residents, these brave men will forever have our
respect and gratitude and appreciation.
Second,
we are actively cutting off any possible financial support from
within the Kingdom. We have frozen the assets of those suspected of
supporting terrorism.
We have
introduced stringent new laws to prevent funds from reaching unknown
destinations and terrorist groups directly or indirectly. According
to one official from the G-8’s Financial Action Task Force, our
new regulations “probably go further than any country in the
world.”
We have
regulated our charities nationally and internationally and are in
the process of setting up a National Commission for Charitable Works
Abroad to monitor charitable activity outside the Kingdom. We are
taking no chances. Until it is up and running, all Saudi charities
are prohibited from sending funds abroad.
We
believe that the scourge of terrorism and drug dealing are
intertwined. Terrorists are using drug dealing to fund their
operations, and drug dealers are using terrorism to protect their
turf. Take out one, and you diminish the other.
Third, we
are seeking to further strengthen international cooperation and
coordination against the international threat of terror. Al-Qaeda is
more dangerous than previous terrorist organizations because it is
not against one society, but against all societies. It is not
national but supranational.
To this
end, we have established cooperative relationships with many
countries, including the United States. In fact, we currently
operate two Joint Task Forces with the US to combat terrorism and
terror financing. These task forces have been effective in achieving
their missions, and have become a model for how nations can work
together to defeat terror.
To seek
ways to enhance international cooperation, Saudi Arabia last
February hosted an international conference in Riyadh that brought
together, for the first time, security experts from over 50 nations,
including US Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend, who
remarked: “We stand with the Saudis in [the war on terrorism] and
this conference is a testament to their commitment – to their
dedication to combating terrorism.”
They came
together to discuss the global threat and to seek ways to enhance
effective international cooperation against the terrorism.
One of
the key recommendations endorsed by delegates at this conference was
the Riyadh Declaration to set up an international counterterrorism
centre.
Fourth,
and finally and most importantly, we are addressing any
misunderstanding about the true meaning and faith of Islam. We are
doing everything we can to educate people about the true tenets of
our faith, a faith of peace and compassion, not of war and terror.
Shaikh
Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-AsShaikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia
and Chairman of the Council of Senior Ulema, recently stated: “Muslims
should .. inform all people that Islam is a religion of
righteousness, betterment and progress.. ..The unjust killing of a
human being in Islam is forbidden.”
We have
launched an unprecedented public awareness campaign to educate our
citizens about the dangers of terrorism and extremism.
We are
updating our educational curriculums and removing any material that
can be possibly interpreted as advocating intolerance or extremism.
Our
senior religious scholars speak out actively against any evil
interpretations of Islam, any mixing of politics with religion. Our
Ministry of Islamic Affairs is implementing a long-term program to
monitor the messages emanating from our mosques and religious
schools and to ensure that those messages reflect the true spirit of
Islam.
And
action has been taken against anyone found to be preaching
intolerance. So far, more than 2,000 imams have been dealt with as a
result of this new policy.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: Islam acknowledges and celebrates the differences
between us – it does not condemn them. As revealed in the Quran:
“Oh mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a
female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each
other.”
We must
strengthen our mutual respect for one another and look for greater
understanding as nations and tribes. Our differences should not
divide us, but be a source of enrichment in our lives and
relationships with one another.
We must
address one other important issue, one further challenge. What are
the politics, the philosophy behind these terrorist attacks? There
is a well-known saying in Arabic: “Your true friend is one who is
honest with you, not one who agrees with you.”
So I will
be honest with you. I believe there are issues, important political
issues that we have to address to reduce the ability of Al-Qaeda to
recruit from among the youth in the Muslim world.
Al-Qaeda
feeds its global pool of supporters, with a diet of discontent and
perceived injustice.
Images of
destruction, people without homes, soldiers standing at roadblocks,
the broken landscape of countries plagued by discontent are beamed
across our world. The explosion in communications technology and the
advent of the Internet has brought this despair into our homes, onto
our computer and television screens. And these images are used by
Al-Qaeda to recruit foot soldiers in its global war on humanity.
Nothing
has done more to damage Western and Islamic relations than the
uneven handling of affairs between Israel and the Palestinian
people. The unguarded confusions and vulnerability of the peoples of
Iraq and Afghanistan as they search for stability have proven to be
more ugly breeding grounds for terrorism.
Al-Qaeda
has used this unsettled and ongoing turmoil to support its mantra of
discontent and in the process invoked the name of Islam, the idea of
jihad.
Let’s
briefly look at each of these issues.
The
Arab-Israeli conflict has been an open wound in the Middle East for
over five decades. According to figures published last month by the
highly respected International Institute of Strategic Studies in
London 30,000 people have died as a result of that conflict since
1978. In the past five years, 4,000 people have died. The tens of
thousands injured, made homeless and destitute by this conflict is
incalculable.
It is
this cause above all others that has given lifeblood to this evil
cult of hate, that has fed the followers of Al-Qaeda.
It is a
cause which can no longer be ignored or set aside. At no time in
history has the resolution of this problem been more urgent. And at
no time in history has the solution been clearer.
The Arab
Summit in Beirut in 2002 adopted the peace initiative put forth by
then-Crown Prince, now King Abdullah for resolving the Arab-Israeli
dispute.
This
initiative is straightforward: In exchange for Israeli withdrawal
from the territories occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, and the
establishment of a Palestinian state, all Arab countries would sign
peace agreements with Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict would
formally end. Normal relations between Israel and all the Arab
countries would follow.
What
became known as the “Arab Peace Initiative” was supported by the
United States and the vast majority of nations. But Israel has yet
to respond to this genuine offer of peace.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: The world must now act – with resolution, with
urgency, with commitment and with justice. We must do everything to
support these two countries as they struggle to find a peaceful and
fair resolution of this conflict. The US is the only country that
can play a vital and important role in this.
President
George Bush’s commitment to a two-state solution and his declared
desire to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians during
this term of his office is extremely important and welcome. But in
committing itself to work for peace in this region, America must be
even-handed. They must look for a just solution, not only for the
sake of the Palestinians and Israelis but for the sake of the world
community.
Let us
look briefly at Iraq. The confusion, despair and vulnerability of
the Iraqi people as they search for stability in their country after
decades of oppression and political abuse have provided another
breeding ground for the evil philosophy of terror.
Here,
suicide bombers have become the insurgents’ weapons of choice.
These
terrorists are followers of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda who
claim to be fighting the American forces. But they are killing
Iraqis and, more dangerously, fighting the emergence of a secure,
stable and united Iraq.
To
counter this, we have provided financial and material aid to the
Iraqi people, and we are doing what we can to support all efforts to
bring about stability between the different factions. Three weeks
ago, and at the Kingdom’s initiative, a meeting was convened in
Jeddah to seek ways to bring all Iraqi factions together.
The
Secretary-General of the Arab League, Mr. Amr Moussa, was tasked at
that meeting to travel to Iraq and consult with our Iraqi brethren
about convening a meeting of all Iraqi factions in Egypt in order to
explore the means for arriving at national reconciliation.
These
efforts have been supported by the United Nations and by the Bush
administration. And we pray that our Iraqi brothers will be able to
reach agreement on a common future in which Iraq’s unity and
territorial integrity is preserved, and in which every Iraqi faction
is treated justly.
Finally,
allow me to turn to Afghanistan, a nation which has suffered greatly
during the past 25 years and more. It has been subjected to
invasion, civil war and cruel and extreme dictatorship. It has been
a boiling pot of discontent and so nurtured the birth of Al-Qaeda
and became its first training ground.
There is
hope for Afghanistan. Today the first glimmers of positive
development can be seen in Afghanistan. We must support the
emergence of their national government, new programs to disarm
illegal groups and the development of the country. It is a fragile
stability. We must support it in every way we can.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: There are those who believe that the war against
Al-Qaeda is a war between East and West; between Christianity and
Islam. Some see it as a “clash of civilizations.” We are not
engaged in a clash of civilizations; we are engaged in a war “for
civilization.” It is a war that pits all peace-loving people,
regardless of their culture or faith, against the forces of
darkness.
Differences
are real and need to be acknowledged, but the bonds of common
humanity, of common values, of being citizens together of one world
are stronger.
The
challenge is to speak up, to speak out and drown the voices of
extremism and intolerance, regardless from where they emanate. And
we must build bridges of understanding between our cultures and
faiths.
We cannot
meet this challenge alone. We need to act together as one strong
world community, one force for good.
Let us
all remember that we are but guests passing through and staying a
while in this small and precious world in which we live.
We have
an obligation to our children and grandchildren, like our ancestors
before us, to leave our world in a better state than we found it.
Thank
you, and God’s peace and blessings are upon you.
Source: SaudiEmbassy.net
About
Prince Turki al Faisal
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