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.
But “we are continuing to work with the Saudis to do everything we can to cut off money. They are on occasion, like other friends in the area, arresting people that we have highlighted as Al-Qaeda type menace,” Bush said. He also said the Kingdom was worried that Osama Bin Laden could “try to harm the Saudi people through terrorist attacks.”
