WASHINGTON, 16 September 2003 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned of an “insurmountable gulf” in relations developing between the United States and his country if US misconceptions about Saudi Arabia persist.
Prince Saud told Time magazine that “if these misconceptions continue to rise, they build a gulf that is insurmountable.”
“We try to fight that gulf. We are finding a hard time on the other side of the ocean,” Prince Saud said.
Responding to US criticisms that his country had become a breeding ground for terrorism, Saud that it was due to the worsening Israeli-Palestinian conflict and not because of Saudi Arabia’s social system.
“It is not true that the extremists are gaining the upper hand. We are fighting terrorists, pursuing them everywhere, closing the net on them,” he stressed.
Prince Saud said his government had no interest in changing its strategic relationship with the United States, but cautioned his government had warned of the potentially damaging effects of invading Iraq.
Asked how serious the threat of Al-Qaeda is to Saudi Arabia, Saud replied: “We believe we can handle it. And we have done a pretty good job of it, but this is no time to remain complacent, but vigilant. I hope we solve the problem and remove this cancer from our country.”
