WASHINGTON, 9 November 2005 — The newly appointed Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, yesterday called for increased international cooperation to combat extremism. The “scourge of terrorism” has “defiled our world,” he said.
As keynote speaker at the Middle East Institute’s annual conference, Prince Turki spoke to a packed standing-room-only audience and cautioned against the West’s tendency to link Islam with terrorism. “One of the greatest challenges facing our world is terrorism and the misunderstanding it has created about Islam and the Islamic world,” he said.
The ambassador called terrorism the biggest single threat to international peace and stability, which “spreads fear and destroys bonds between people and nations.”
Prince Turki made a point of outlining what his country has been doing to quash terrorism, while acknowledging that 15 of the 19 terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks were Saudis. “That fact is a scar on our history, and a burden we will have to live with for the rest of our lives.”
Prince Turki’s speech marked his public debut in Washington, and over 100 media organizations covered the event.
Turning to Islam in Saudi Arabia, the ambassador said: “It is true that our senior ulema follow a fundamental school of Islam... and lead a morally conservative life. But it is also true that they condemn all suicide bombings and the taking of any innocent life.”
The terrorists who defile Islam to bolster and proselytize their extremism are “totally and utterly wrong” and in “absolute violation of the basic teachings of Islam,” he explained.
He outlined the steps the Kingdom has taken to stamp out terrorism, including tracking and chasing down any terrorist groups, cutting off financial support from within the Kingdom, freezing assets of individuals suspected of supporting terrorism and creating new laws to prevent funds from reaching unknown destinations and terrorist groups directly or indirectly.
Prince Turki said the only way to overcome “this evil cult” was to strengthen international cooperation and coordination. Citing an international conference held in Riyadh last year, he said one of the key recommendations endorsed by delegates was to set up an international counterterrorism center.
He listed three conflicts that are helping Al-Qaeda recruit youth in the Muslim world. They are in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Nothing has done more to damage Western and Islamic relations than the uneven handling of affairs between Israel and the Palestinians people,” Prince Turki said and dubbed the conflict an “open wound in the Middle East for five decades.” He said it has given lifeblood to terrorism.
Iraq and Afghanistan were also “breeding grounds for the evil philosophy of terror,” he said adding, “suicide bombers have become the insurgents’ weapons of choice.”
To a question from the audience later as to why it has taken so long for Muslims to speak out against Al-Qaeda and terrorism, Prince Turki politely suggested the West has not been listening.
