PARIS, 27 January — Saudi nationals implicated in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States were unwitting victims of Osama Bin Laden, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal was quoted as saying yesterday.
"The Saudis who perpetrated the attacks of Sept. 11 were betrayed . You can see it in the second video cassette from Bin Laden where you can see him laughing," Prince Saud told French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview.
"He dragged fellow countrymen into a suicide mission they knew nothing of. We are closely examining our mistakes, but by loading the blame for Sept. 11 on one country, Saudi Arabia, the Western media is committing a massive injustice with serious consequences," he said.
Prince Saud also said his country would pursue and arrest any Saudi involved in Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
Bin Laden, disowned by his own family years ago, is Washington’s prime suspect for the September attacks and US authorities say as many as 15 of the 19 people involved in the suicide airliner hijacks were Saudis.
Prince Saud also said relations with the United States had always been "positive" and remained so after the attacks that wiped out the New York World Trade Center and smashed part of the Pentagon. "If there’s any good that can come out of Sept. 11, it’s that everyone take a hard look at themselves and see what they can do to avoid a repeat of such crises," he said.
Asked about Saudis fighting in Afghanistan for the network, Prince Saud said: "Those involved in criminal activity will be tracked down and, if possible, arrested. What we are also trying to do is recuperate those who have been led astray and joined the ranks of Al-Qaeda, and put them back on the right path."
"We have to be on guard and educate our people, ensure that they become conscious of the dangers of organizations such as Al-Qaeda," he said. "I prefer preventive medicine to surgery."
Criticism of Saudi Arabia in the United States has also focused on the values fostered by its education system. Prince Saud denied that the Saudi system was a breeding ground for terrorism. "It is not a problem of education," he said.
"Here people are bombarded by dramatic images of Palestinian homes destroyed by the Israeli Army or children killed... These images are not broadcast by the schools but by CNN, by the BBC or by French television.
"The Palestinian cause is exploited by extremists... It is neither our educational programs nor our policies, which are aimed at peace, which motivate these youths."
In the Middle East, Prince Saud said, people tended to confuse differences of opinion between Riyadh and Washington on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and overall relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
"(Our overall) relations are based on important principle and mutual interests. It’s no secret that our views sometimes differ, particularly concerning Israeli policy," he said.
"Contacts between our two governments, and in particular between the two heads of state, have never been cut and are always positive. That hasn’t changed".
He stressed that the US was central to securing peace in the Middle East.
"The principles on which this great country was founded predispose it to play the role of peacemaker and an honest broker, even if there is a special relationship between the United States and Israel," said the prince.
Saudi newspapers yesterday held the United States equally responsible for the escalation of Israeli terrorismagainst the Palestinian people and warned of serious consequences.
"The expansion of Israeli terrorism will not only lead to an explosion such as what happened on Friday, but will also destroy all chances for peace after (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon secured American support," Okaz daily said.
The US is now branding the "Palestinian people’s right to struggle as terrorism" and is looking at Israeli practices as "natural retaliation", it said. "While we hold Israel responsible for the escalation, the United States should bear the same responsibility. The latest statements by American officials have only encouraged Sharon and his gang to go farther," the paper added.
Al-Jazirah said Washington was listening only to Sharon and "flooding the Palestinian leadership with orders it had received" from the Israeli prime minister.
"This has made American diplomacy and its envoys (act as) mail men for (Israeli) terrorism," the paper said in an editorial.
The current US policy will only lead to more bloodshed among Palestinians and Israelis alike, Al-Jazirah warned.
Al-Riyadh said Palestinians were left to face death. "Palestinians are given the lone choice of death and are acting on the basis of this principle, because America sees only the Palestinian terrorism," the daily said in a front page editorial.
"Those who are waiting solutions from America are banking on the unknown" because the post-September US policy has changed to give Israel a leading role in redrawing the map of the region, it said.
