The first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington is almost here. The United States behaves as though it has a legitimate right to demand total submission from other countries, ostensibly to fight international terrorism. US wrath will descend on any country, which dares to disagree with the US administration. It will declare war against such countries with false charges of terrorist connections. It will ask other countries to join in these unjust wars, which will also seek to redraw the map of disagreeing countries to suit US whims.
Saudi Arabia has been subjected to continual vilification and blackmail. Both the Saudi and US governments have been striving to pacify the Saudi people who were angered by an American report portraying Saudi Arabia as one of the worst enemies of the US. The report openly suggested an attack upon the Kingdom if it did not obey US demands to stop assistance to the Palestinian people. Among US demands are that the Kingdom allow itself to be used for a strike against Iraq.
It was amid the efforts of the two governments to play down the significance of the reprehensible report that a US attorney filed a suit in a US court demanding damages running into trillions of dollars for the relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Those named as defendants include Saudi banks, charitable organizations and individuals. Sudan is also named in the suit in an apparent attempt to make an impression that not only Saudi Arabia is targeted by the move. The banks and charitable organizations, we are led to believe, should pay compensation because they are in theory the financiers of Al-Qaeda. On the contrary, they have nothing to do with either the organization or terrorist acts. The Kingdom withdrew the Saudi citizenship of the Al-Qaeda chief several years before the Sept. 11 attacks. Further, the Kingdom itself has been a victim of terrorist acts such as the Alkhobar blast and several street bombings. We, both the government and people, have taken an uncompromising stand against terrorist activities that harm innocent civilians. How can anyone blame a country, government or organizations for crimes they did not commit? The charges against the defendants have of course yet to be proven.
Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed in Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan in US bombings. An entire village where people were celebrating a wedding was wiped out. Relatives of these victims might have sued the US but for fears of further retaliatory acts. Is not unlimited US support to Israel’s repeated carnage a kind of terrorism? The same charge of supporting terrorism could easily be brought against the US if we use US measurements and standards.
I am sure that most American people do not agree with their government’s hostile policies which only increase the hatred of the world’s weak for the US. The US media feed incorrect information to the public about Arab and Muslim problems, particularly the Palestinian issue. It is an undeniable fact that the Zionist lobby, supported by generous funding, controls the US media. It is sad to note that the Saudi or Arab media have failed completely to influence US public opinion. Nor have Arab resources played any creditable role, either in the American media or the media anywhere else.
I have visited several well-known institutions in the US. The people there have always welcomed me most kindly and treated me without any sign of hostility. The American people are among the kindest in the world. I repeat that the Saudi people have no hostility toward the US people. We have been friends for a long time and will remain so despite efforts by certain vested interests to drive a wedge between us. We are, however, strongly opposed to the US government’s unsympathetic and hostile attitude toward most Arab and Muslim issues, including the unjust bias toward Israel.
Under these circumstances, the best course of action for our banks and charitable organizations is to withdraw their accounts, deposits and investments from the US and invest them in our country or some other Muslim or friendly country. Even if the profits are lower, it is better than our capital being subject to suspicion and investigations and threats of having it frozen. Most importantly, we should not be deterred by the barrage of baseless allegations from certain quarters concerning terrorist connections. We do no more than follow God’s commands and the traditions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, which demand us to continue our struggle. We should upgrade our military to counter the enemies of God. We should continue our struggle with donations for the liberation of the occupied territories and the families of the fighters for God’s cause wherever they are — in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya or any place. We should also pray for peace and tolerance. Islam respects man’s freedom and prefers dialogue to violence in order to settle differences. Those who commit acts of terror act against the tenets of Islam. We should never compromise on what our religion directs us to do. We should always support a just cause.