In a bit of fence-mending after a flap over the portrayal of Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States, US Vice President Dick Cheney said in San Francisco Wednesday that Washington believed Riyadh had nothing to do with the September 11 terror attacks on US targets.
"Certainly the Saudi government had absolutely nothing to do with the events of 9-11," the vice president said during a speech in San Francisco before the Commonwealth Club of California, according to AFP.
"I'm comfortable we can have honest difference with Saudis," he added. On Tuesday, the United States already sought to distance itself from a briefing by Rand Corp. analyst Laurent Murawiec to a Pentagon advisory board that portrayed Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States active at every level of terrorism.
"It did not represent the views of the government, it did not represent the views of the Defense Policy Board," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said of the July 10 briefing.
Rumsfeld said the account of the briefing leaked to the Washington Post had left a "harmful" misimpression, though he did acknowledge US differences with the Saudi Kingdom. "The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," slides prepared by Murawiec said.
Meanwhile, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia’s Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, Aviation and Inspector General, received on Wednesday evening a phone call from United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA.)
During the conversation, Rumsfeld said he and the defense department are upset by the contents of the consultative report on the Kingdom.
Rumsfeld emphasized that the report’s writer had expressed his personal views and not those of the U.S. Defense Department, SPA said. In addition, they discussed the relations between the two friendly countries and peoples.
Also on Wednesday, Saudi officials and newspapers reacted furiously, with Al-Watan accusing the Jewish and Zionist lobby of being behind a smear campaign. "The Jewish-Zionist lobby is employing US political and media institutions to distort the image of Saudi Arabia (in a bid) to discredit its peace initiative," in the Middle East, the daily said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
