| Editor's
Note:
The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, HRH
Prince Saud al-Faisal, is visiting the United States and has made a number of
speaking engagements and interviews. This SUSRIS Item of Interest
provides an unofficial transcript of remarks he delivered to the Foreign
Policy Association and US-Saudi Business Council, April 26, 2004, on the
subject of US-Saudi relations. Links to other interviews and remarks
follow the transcript.
Saudi Foreign Minister HRH Prince Saud al Faisal
Remarks to the Foreign Policy Association and US-Saudi Business Council
April 26, 2004
Distinguished members, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to
thank the organizers for the opportunity to be here with you this evening.
When I was kindly invited by my good friend Abdulaziz Al-Quraishi to address
this forum, I had the impression that he wanted me to provide a change of
pace, or an entertaining finale to what I must assume he thought would be a
very long day of solemn, though I am sure very informative, series of talks. I
know how entertaining economics can be, for it was my major at university. I
never thought that my profession today, diplomacy, can in any way, means or
form be considered
entertaining.
I shall instead, therefore, talk about a very
serious subject -- the relations between our two countries. For it affects all
other issues that were under discussion during this session of the business
council.
I trust that my colleagues, the Minister of
Petroleum and the Minister of Finance, have covered substantial ground that
will allow me to happily announce to you that I shall speak for no more than
10 or 15 minutes. This is not out of choice, by the way, but the organizers
prefer that I concentrate on your questions and specific interests you may
have.
It is apt, and even logical, to talk about the
relations between our two countries in this business setting. For it is
American business and Saudi citizens who must be credited with the
establishment of this relationship, and in contributing to its harmonious
continuity for the last 70 years. It is my hope, therefore, that the subject
will not only be of interest to you, but that you will also join in
maintaining the health and vigor of this relationship
during this period in which it is being severely tested.
| Since the terrorist criminal act of 9/ 11,
Saudi Arabia has been deluged by an onslaught of attacks by the media, some
officials and political figures, and even so-called scholarly researchers, all
conveying the same themes that the country is suffering ailments that
encompass all aspects of life in Saudi Arabia, from the national character of
society, to its religious beliefs, its intellectual and educational standards,
as well as its customs and traditions. The kingdom is portrayed as a country
where everything is wrong, and that its people cannot recognize their
problems, let alone solve them. |
..Instant experts
sprang from nowhere
and everywhere,
most of whom have
never even visited
Saudi Arabia, claiming
a gift of analysis
denied
to mere mortals.. |
To give you a taste of these frenzied attacks,
allow me to read you the titles of some books that are presented as scholarly
works of research by so-called experts: "Sleeping With the Devil: How
Washington Sold its Soul for Saudi Crude." "Inside the Opaque
Kingdom." I really don't know what is so opaque about Saudi Arabia, which
is probably the sunniest place on earth. "Forbidden Truth: US-Taliban
Secret Oil Diplomacy"; "Saudi Arabia and the Failed Search for Bin
Laden"; "One Hundred and One Reasons Not to Murder the Entire Saudi
Royal Family." Even in this they were too spiteful to allow for the usual
1001 reasons. "Hatreds Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports a New Global
Terrorism." And perhaps most absurd of all, "House
of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the Worlds Two Most
Powerful Dynasties." Instant experts sprang from nowhere and everywhere,
most of whom have never even visited Saudi Arabia, claiming a gift of analysis
denied to mere mortals.
I trust that the Minister of Finance has
thoroughly covered the fiscal regulations and control of funds to terrorist
organizations, and in case he has not, I shall defer to him during the
question and answer period to do so. As to the question of Saudi Arabia and
the war on terrorism, after last week's events in Riyadh, I don't think any
reasonable person can cast doubt about our commitment to waging a relentless
war on terrorism. With your indulgence, I shall concentrate on the two major
allegations, and there have been many, that are at the core of these attacks:
Fifteen of the nineteen attackers came from
Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's internal social and political make-up results in
nurturing extremism, radicalism and breeding zealots and terrorists.
To respond to these allegations, one must look
into the phenomenon of al Qaeda, and its figurehead bin Laden, who
though Saudi by birth, had developed his ideology and methodology in
Afghanistan under the tutelage of the radicalized cult of the Muslim
Brotherhood, an organization I assume everyone here knows. He was not taught
his doctrine and creed in Saudi schools, or madrassas if you like, or mosques.
If Saudi Arabia is guilty of blame for what he has become, the United States
must surely share the blame.
Both of us backed the mujahedeen to liberate
Afghanistan from Soviet occupation, and allowed such people as bin Laden to
the fray. We all remember the days when the word mujahedeen, as used in the
media of the time, signified the paradigm of the true freedom fighter. When
those same mujahedeen were honored, praised and even received in the White
House, no less a superhero than Rambo himself adopted their cause and fought
with them side by side.
| The ideology that bin Laden follows was
ingrained in him by the radicalized cult of the Muslim brotherhood. It is not
the teaching of the Wahhabi reform movement, or any other school indigenous to
Saudi Arabia, that was the cause of his metamorphosis. The ideology espoused
by al Qaeda can be summarized by its belief in the negation of the legitimacy
of all the governments of the Islamic countries, and especially Saudi Arabia,
for the
purpose of reestablishing the Islamic Caliphate with al Qaeda as its vanguard.
The latest version of this plan calls for the destruction of the Saudi State,
and from that point on, achieve the union of the Islamic world with bin Laden
presumably at the helm and al Qaeda forming the nucleus of its power. |
..To achieve that
objective, they had
to first
drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia
and the United States,
and what better tool
to utilize than the
spectacular criminal
attack of 9/ 11, with
the major
instrument
for that attack being
the 15 Saudis.. |
To achieve that objective, they had to first
drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and the United States, and what better tool
to utilize than the spectacular criminal attack of 9/ 11, with the major
instrument for that attack being the 15 Saudis. Saudi Arabia, in fact, has its
own brand of extremists and zealots, and even hatemongers. It is not unique in
this. Many other countries have their own brand of extremists and hatemongers.
The Saudi state, since the time of King Abdullah Aziz, has been at constant
conflict with them. However, this indigenous form of ultra-conservatism was
and still is isolationist in nature. Their major concern is to keep Saudi
Arabia outside the movement toward modernity, which they perceive as a threat
to the moral purity of Islamic society. Their preaching is not the global
expansionist ideology of al Qaeda, but rather an isolationist, anti-modernity
ideology.
If we merge the isolationism, and I hope we
don't have any Amish here, of the Amish in Pennsylvania, and the beliefs of
the Puritans of the early commonwealth of Massachusetts, we can perhaps get a
flavor of the ideology of these archconservatives. This is a crucial
distinction that must be made, because the extremism of Saudi Arabia's
archconservatives is being used as evidence for not only the sympathy, but
also the collaboration of Saudi Arabia and its society with al Qaeda's aims
and objectives. Nothing is further from the truth, as evidenced by the war
being waged relentlessly against al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and the support that
the society is giving the governments efforts to rid the country of these
evildoers.
Even the extremist religious elements within
the country that are against modernity completely reject al Qaeda's ideology
and methodology. Seen in this perspective, it is not hard to understand the
reason that bin Laden and his cohorts chose Saudis to perpetrate their heinous
act in the United States. What is not understood is why the detractors of
Saudi Arabia keep hammering on the fact that 15 of the perpetrators were
Saudis, as if that fact alone makes a nation of 16 million people liable and
accountable for that act. It is indeed ironic to note here that those who most
vociferously attack Saudi Arabia are unwittingly serving the purposes of al
Qaeda and the ideology it represents. More ominously, their attacks lead to
undermining the country that is probably the most capable not only of waging
the war against them, but also in preventing them from spreading their cultist
ideology in the Islamic world.
It is the religious establishment in Saudi
Arabia that is in fact proving to be the body most capable of de-legitimizing
al Qaeda claims. The very religious community that is being attacked, and
pressure is brought to bear, to discredit it. As a further adjunct to the
damage that these attacks are inflicting, they inflame and provide cogent
proof to the conservative elements of Saudi Arabia to entrench their
opposition against reform. 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 fabric of Saudi society.
Regardless of these facts, the media and some
opinion makers simply ignore them, as if Saudi Arabia serves a persistent need
for an Orwellian target to be constantly assailed. As one example, when we
approached a leading politician in this country, on why he keeps attacking
Saudi Arabia on these points of terrorism and the money trail, after providing
him with all the facts concerning the issues, his answer was, "Don't pay
any attention to what we say these days, this is the silly season, the season
of elections." I wonder if this esteemed gentleman thought of the impact
of his remarks on attitudes towards democracy. I thought election time was a
time of telling the truth, not the reverse.
As leading businessmen, responsible for your
corporations and shareholders, you will be concerned about security and
stability when you contemplate investment ventures in Saudi Arabia. My
colleagues, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Petroleum, may have
discussed this issue with you earlier this afternoon. I can assure you that we
have faced similar critical and challenging problems in the past. Such as the
time when the coffers of the Minister of Finance had only $320 dollars, and I
see my colleague Ibrahim shaking his head. He has more than that now, I assure
you.
And when the hammers of radical nationalism
and Communism were pounding at the gates, we faced these and similar
difficulties, and we surmounted them. I would say that our track record of
dealing with challenges is pretty good, and in the present conflict, God
willing, we shall prevail.
In the last three years, even when we were
engaged in waging a war against terrorism, we have been experiencing
increasing growth rate in our economy. Reforms are continuing unabated, and we
are hoping to join the World Trade Organization by this year at the latest.
| I raise these points about the relationship
between our two countries with you today to sound the alert that the harmony
of our long and fruitful relations is threatened. This relationship, which
began with an oil well drilled in the desert of Saudi Arabia by an American
company, and developed into a intricate web of economic, political and
strategic partnership, is in need of clear sightedness, and tremendous efforts
from both sides to reverse the trend towards alienation and suspicion, and to
return to the trust and mutual understanding that existed before. |
"..I
raise these points
about the relationship
between our two
countries with you
today to sound the
alert that the
harmony
of our long
and fruitful relations
is threatened.." |
I can think of no other body more capable of
shouldering a major part of this responsibility than this esteemed body. As
the business community was the initiator of this esteemed relationship, so it
may prove to be the protector and guardian for its continuity and soundness.
I thank you for this opportunity to be with
you tonight, and may God's peace be upon you.
Source: FPA/U.S.-Saudi Arabia Business
Council
HRH Prince Saud al-Faisal is the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Related Material:
- VIDEO
presentation of Prince Saud al-Faisal's remarks to the
Foreign Policy Association and the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council on
April 26, 2004. [Windows Media Player]
- NBC
News interview - April 26, 2004
- Wall
Street Journal interview - April 26, 2004
- HRH
Prince Saud Al-Faisal at the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum, SUSRIS IOI,
September 30, 2003
- In
the News: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal Comments on
U.S.-Saudi Relations,
SUSRIS Newsletter #42, February 1, 2004
- On
Relations and Reforms: Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign
Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, SUSRIS IOI, March 24, 2004
- Saudi
Officials Take on Challenges in the Media: Prince Saud Al-Faisal and
Prince Turki Al-Faisal Respond to Charges, SUSRIS IOI, September 12,
2003
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