IN THIS ISSUE

Forum Feedback

• Saudi-American Forum Member Contributes to Dialogue on 
  U.S.-Saudi Relationship

Reporting, Analyses & Commentary

• Kingdom Says War Inevitable, No Need For Arab Summit
• War's Aftermath Now Arabs' Focus
• Middle East Nations Aid US War Plan
• Kingdom Defends Foreign Forces
• Kingdom Gives Oil Quota Suspension Green Light
• Westerners On Edge In Saudi After Briton Killed
• I Support Abdullah's Reform Program: Naif
• Saudi (Gas) Initiative Near Death
• Saudis Worry Iraq War Could Create Oil Rival

FORUM FEEDBACK

FORUM FEEDBACK

I've been speaking to service organizations in the Phoenix, Arizona area (Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs) addressing the unfair allegations against Saudi Arabia which have appeared in the press, and which are discussed frequently on talk shows. 

The audiences are 80 persons or less. The talks are well received. The audience is intelligent, are voters and the questions are constructive. 

I'll be speaking to a group of MBA students at the University of Southern California in mid-March. Both the service organizations and the student groups are good groups to contact. They are always looking for guest speakers. I have eight more speaking engagements during the balance of February, March and April and some additional promising prospects. 

So, if some of you want to try to make a difference give it a go!

Yesterday, February 18, Senator McCain was interviewed on a local morning talk show. He is planning to run for reelection to the Senate. During the interview he stated that Saudi Arabia is riding a tiger (trying to placate both sides) and is funding terrorists. 

The following is a letter-to-the-editor I faxed to our main local paper.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR 
The Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona

SENATOR McCAIN ACCUSES SAUDIS

Senator McCain was featured on Barry Young's AM 550 morning talk show on Tuesday February 18. In the discussion regarding terrorism, Senator McCain stated that the Saudi Government is funding terrorists. As the Senator has full access to U.S. Government reports on the terrorist issue, it is surprising that he is echoing this accusation which has been refuted by the State Department, the Defense Department, our intelligence agencies and the Administration.

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. With their educated, independent thinking population, the Royal Family is constantly running for office. It isn't reasonable to believe that they would fund the very terrorists who are trying to overthrow their government.

[END]

I find that, if timely, the editorial staffs are quite receptive to letters on Saudi subjects. They like a 60 day cooling off period before printing additional letters.

I hope that my experience will be of some help to others of you involved in your communities.

Hugh Renfro, Sr.

[Thank you Mr. Renfro.  Keep up the good work!]

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WAR'S AFTERMATH NOW ARABS' FOCUS 
"In a spacious fifth-floor conference room at Egypt's leading think tank, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States delivered a message that surprised some of Cairo's most prominent intellectuals and analysts. The ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said Arabs would blunder by actively backing French and German efforts to forestall a war against Iraq, according to two participants in Sunday's three-hour, off-the-record talk. The Bush administration's contentions that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and has cultivated links with al Qaeda have substance, they recalled him saying, and Arabs should acknowledge that war is inevitable and begin jockeying for a role in shaping postwar Iraq..." Complete report...

MIDDLE EAST NATIONS AID US WAR PLAN
"The Bush administration has quietly received almost complete military and intelligence cooperation from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other key nations in the Middle East in preparation for a possible war against Iraq, according to senior officials at the Defense and State departments. The cooperation, which appears to contradict public statements made by leaders of some nations in the region, includes the use of a critical command center at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia that can coordinate real-time information from US special forces on the ground with fighter planes and armed Predator spy aircraft, said defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In a key turnaround, Saudi officials also have given permission for the US Air Force to fly combat missions from Prince Sultan Air Base after a war begins against the regime of Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein, the defense officials said. Until now, the Saudis have publicly said they would only allow US military planes at the base to monitor the southern "no fly" zone in Iraq. A senior Saudi official declined to comment yesterday..." Source: The Boston Globe [Feb. 19, 2003]

KINGDOM DEFENDS FOREIGN FORCES 
"Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, yesterday defended the presence of foreign forces in the Kingdom and said they were here for the benefit of the whole region. "What we have are forces from the United States, Britain and France that have been here for 12 years under a Security Council resolution and an agreement signed by the countries and the Iraqi government," he said. "This situation will continue because it is good for those countries, for Iraq and for Saudi Arabia," he told reporters..."  [Expired Link]

KINGDOM GIVES OIL QUOTA SUSPENSION GREEN LIGHT 
"OPEC member Saudi Arabia will support a temporary suspension of the group's oil output limits if an attack on Iraq halts exports from the world's eighth largest exporter, a Gulf source said yesterday. But even if the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries does not formally suspend its output ceiling, a senior OPEC delegate said exporters with spare capacity would "de facto" pump at will..."  [Expired Link]

WESTERNERS ON EDGE IN SAUDI AFTER BRITON KILLED 
"Tension mounted in Saudi Arabia's expatriate community on Friday following the shooting of a British man, with many Westerners fearing they could become targets if there is a war with Iraq. The threat of war has already prompted some families to leave. Although there is no sense of panic, people are stocking up on food and water in case they have to remain in their protected, walled compounds and are limiting trips outside..."  [Expired Link]

I SUPPORT ABDULLAH'S REFORM PROGRAM: NAIF 
"Interior Minister Prince Naif has said that he had welcomed the recent meeting between Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and a group of reformists. He was refuting a report in The New York Times which stated that he was against Prince Abdullah's reformist agenda. 'It's not possible that I could object to anything said by the crown prince,' he told Okaz yesterday. Reformists met with Crown Prince Abdullah and submitted a letter calling for wide-ranging changes in the Kingdom, including elections to the Shoura Council..."  [Expired Link]

SAUDI (GAS) INITIATIVE NEAR DEATH
"It may be something of a stretch to say that the three-year-long negotiations by Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell-led consortia for $20 billion-plus in integrated gas projects in Saudi Arabia are dead as a doornail -- but not much. Two consortia, the one led by Shell and the bigger of two led by Exxon, have responded with negotiating proposals to a supposedly final Saudi offer made last September. And by this point, none of the parties to the negotiations -- the companies, the Oil Ministry, state Saudi Aramco, Crown Prince Abdullah, or Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal, the lead sponsor of the gas projects -- appears in any hurry to settle anything. In many ways, the story of the Saudi gas initiative can be cast as gridlock at the intersection of petroleum and Mideast politics. It pits an entrenched bureaucracy in the Saudi oil ministry firmly allied with the nationalistic technocrats at Aramco against a savvy but hesitant Saudi leadership, encumbered by growing regional antagonism against the Bush administration in Washington and a nascent power struggle within the Saudi royal family, where some of the players have locked onto the gas projects as a vehicle for settling old scores with each other and new complaints against the US. The international oil companies are far from innocent by-standers. From the start, they have attempted to play the various parties off against each other in order to promote their own interests..." Source: World Gas Intelligence [Feb. 18, 2003]

SAUDIS WORRY IRAQ WAR COULD CREATE OIL RIVAL 
"...If a U.S.-led invasion succeeds in overthrowing Saddam Hussein's government and installing a pro-American regime in Baghdad, Iraq's immense, largely untapped oil wealth will be opened to foreign investment and the country could become the major economic powerhouse in the region, casting a long shadow over Saudi Arabia. "If the United States takes over Iraq and Iraqi production rises dramatically, Saudi Arabia will lose position in the market and political influence with the United States," said a strategic planning executive for Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil monopoly. Such an outcome would be a triumph for the growing anti-Saudi lobby in Washington, which notes that the country produced Osama bin Laden and 15 of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and whose religious charities have funded a variety of extremist anti-Western groups..." Source: San Francisco Chronicle [Feb. 16, 2003]