Kingdom Battling Terrorism, Bush Says
By Muhammad Sadik, Arab News Staff

In Depth Reporting, Analysis & Commentary

Think Before Jumping on Saudi-Bashing Bandwagon
By Mansoor Ijaz [Christian Science Monitor]

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan in between U.S. Friend, Foe
Commentary - By Mushahid Hussain [Inter Press Service News Agency] 

Bandar's Bewilderment Mirrors Saudi Fall from Grace
By Jim Lobe [Inter Press News Service]

'EXPATS' ESTABLISH WEB FORUM TO FIGHT DISINFORMATION
By Hamza Dushghani, Special to Arab News

A group of Americans, from among the hundreds of thousands who lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, have joined to launch an information service where they can discuss the challenges to the Saudi-US relationship and work to dispel the distortions and misperceptions about the Kingdom rampant since “Sept. 11.”

The effort, launched last month by a group of concerned “old-hands” — mostly retired expatriates now living in the United States, resulted in creation of the “Saudi-American Forum” consisting of a website and e-mail newsletter service. The purpose of the forum, stated on the website, is to serve as “a resource for Americans who value the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia and who want to act in response to erroneous and misleading depictions of the relationship in the media and elsewhere.” Moreover, the forum aims to “be a vehicle for stakeholders in the Saudi-US relationship to contribute their experiences and their ideas and opinions on the issues of the day.”

In the first month of the forum’s operation, hundreds of Americans who learned about the Kingdom first-hand have already signed on as members. They include workers and their families who lived in Saudi Arabia from as early as 1938 and stretch across the panoply of American experiences in the Kingdom in terms of occupations they performed, regions where they lived and deep personal ties they cultivated. Many of the new members contributed essays, letters to editors, remembrances and so forth about their personal relationship with the people of Saudi Arabia and their opinions and comments about the media firestorm that now overshadows the public relationship. They are deeply committed to maintaining the strength of Saudi-American ties and want to share their knowledge about the Kingdom. 

One editorial contributor to the forum website, William Tracy, who lived and worked in the Kingdom about 18 years between 1945 and 1980, submitted letters he has written to US newspapers addressing the relationship. In one essay he wrote about having met King Abdul Aziz in 1947. Crown Prince Abdullah during his visit to Texas this year, Tracy noted, “While visiting with many of the Saudi and American guests, I was reminded once again of how our two peoples share so many values — values such as generosity and hospitality, devotion and loyalty to family and friends, dedication to justice and to peace, our common quest for faith and spirituality.” Many of the forum members believe insight of this sort is sorely missing from the current dialogue, which they see as dominated by anti-Saudi voices with political agendas to advance. The forum website, located at: www.SaudiAmericanForum.net, includes resources for members who want to contact American media and officials to share their views and provides a venue for them to share those communications with others. The website also includes a sign-up form for others who have lived and worked in Saudi Arabia to become members — to receive the e-mail newsletters.

Other features of the forum include essays provided by specialists on Saudi-US affairs by invitation. The first of these, “Rough Waters: US-Saudi Relations in the 107th Congress” by David Dumke, former legislative director for US Congressman John Dingell, provides insights to Forum members on how little US lawmakers know about the history of Saudi-US relations. Visitors to the forum can use background material like this essay, coupled with their own insight, as they formulate their personal communications and initiatives.

The Saudi-American Forum information service is a new and growing project and it welcomes other Americans who live and work in the Kingdom to join their efforts.

More information can be found on the website at www.SaudiAmericanForum.net or through email to: info@SaudiAmericanForum.net .

Arab News Features - December 12, 2002

KINGDOM BATTLING TERRORISM, BUSH SAYS
By Muhammad Sadik, Arab News Staff

WASHINGTON, 14 December 2002 — US President George W. Bush said in remarks released Thursday that Americans are skeptical of Saudi cooperation in the war on terrorism but he trusts Riyadh’s pledges to help.

Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, “has assured me that the Saudi government will do everything they can to disrupt finances headed toward terrorists,” Bush told ABC News in an interview. “He is a good, honest man.”

“I’ve got a very good relationship with Crown Prince Abdullah. And I admire Crown Prince Abdullah. I believe he is as we say ‘the genuine article’,” he said, according to a transcript released before the broadcast.

The US leader said he has explained to Prince Abdullah that the American people are skeptical about Saudi goodwill because 15 of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks were from the Kingdom.

[Expired Link]

THINK BEFORE JUMPING ON SAUDI-BASHING BANDWAGON 
By Mansoor Ijaz [Christian Science Monitor - Dec. 5, 2002]

"The media firestorm that erupted last week over whether Princess Haifa al Faisal, wife of Saudi Arabia's longtime ambassador to Washington and daughter of the late King Faisal, channeled official Saudi government funds to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers demonstrates the growing desperation in America to find a Saudi scapegoat to replace the still-talking head of public enemy No. 1, Osama bin Laden. It also highlights a structural incompatibility in the US-Saudi relationship: America's newfound, if somewhat hypocritical, need for transparency in political and financial dealings with a tribal society characterized by opaque paternalistic tradition. Few caught up in the Saudi-bashing have paused to consider the constructive role Riyadh has played - and can still play - in important geopolitical events..."  [Expired Link]

Ever since the summer, when Iraq emerged as the next target in the U.S.-led 'war on terror', a sporadic media campaign has been launched against Saudi Arabia. The initial expression of U.S. ire over the fact that 15 of the 19 Sep. 11 hijackers were Saudi nationals has now been transformed into a more systematic assault on Saudi Arabia, including its royal family. This assault has been aided by the close nexus between the media and the Establishment in the United States, probably the coziest bond of any democratic country. The media is used effectively to promote perceptions before these are translated into policy. Media coverage helps in garnering and preparing public opinion for what is to come. The media thus reflects and shapes policy in a significant and intelligent manner..."  [Expired Link]

"Poor Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States. In the 1980s, he was treated as a comrade-in-arms in the war against communism at the home of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Casey, as honored guest at banquets of neo-conservatives celebrating the "Reagan Doctrine," and he was the toast of Ronald Reagan himself in the White House dining room. Now, just over a decade later, his wife is accused by powerful senators and media of supporting terrorism; his country is charged with "duplicity" in the war against al-Qaeda; and increasingly shrill calls for the overthrow of his family's rule are proliferating across Washington. Worst of all, many of the same people who treated him as a hero under former president Reagan and who still extol those years as a glorious epoch in U.S. foreign policy now say his kingdom should be treated as a sworn enemy of the United States, and even become a target of a revived Reagan Doctrine to oust unfriendly regimes...

...While no evidence has surfaced that either Bandar, his wife, or the families who received the funds ever knew that the men were part of al-Qaeda, the stories have nonetheless sparked a new wave of denunciations about the alleged perfidy of the Saudi royal family in the war on terrorism...

...Gaffney's attack was particularly incendiary, other Iraq hawks, including Republican Sen. John McCain and neo-conservative Democrat and former vice-presidential candidate, Joseph Lieberman, have seized on the alleged failure of the CIA and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to thoroughly investigate such links as "very serious"...

...The