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Saudi Ambassador in Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan
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WASHINGTON,
November 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – As Saudis rejected the
U.S. allegations "as outrageous and completely irresponsible",
the United States sought late Monday, November 25, to put a brave face
on tensions with Saudi Arabia after claims that the wife of the Saudi
Ambassador to Washington may have allegedly funded terrorists
indirectly.
The
Saudi Princess flatly denied the U.S. allegations, and Saudi Interior
Minister Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz called them lies about the Saudi royal
family, stressing that Americans were mistaken about considering aid as
a target for accusation.
For
its part, the he White House insisted Saudi Arabia is a "good"
partner in the war on terrorism. However, U.S. analysts said the growing
storm over the Ambassador's wife adds to disagreements over Iraq and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Princess Haifa al-Faisal,
wife of Saudi Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is at the center of
the new dispute over alleged support for terrorism.
Monday's
edition of Newsweek magazine reported that tens of thousands of
dollars were sent to Saudi students via the bank account of Princess
Haifa.
The
money was allegedly transferred to the bank account of Omar al-Bayumi, a
student in San Diego, California, in early 2000, just before alleged
Saudi hijackers Khalid Almidhar and Nawaf Alhazmi arrived in Los
Angeles, FBI sources told Newsweek.
The
FBI, which has launched a probe into the money transfer, said Almidhar
and Alhazmi later participated in the hijacking of American Airlines
Flight 77, which slammed into the Pentagon outside Washington September
11, 2001.
An
Embassy official, close to the Princess, denied that she owned or rented
any such apartment. The address in question, the source said, was a bank
and not an apartment building.
However,
the investigation into the checks has "devastated" Princess
Haifa, a spokesperson told AFP.
"I
heard U.S. lawmakers in the American media today say that money that I
have donated to a needy Saudi family living in the United States was
transferred to two Saudi 9-11 terrorists," Princess Haifa said in a
statement.
"My
father, King Faisal, was killed in a terrorist act in 1975. I find that
accusations that I contributed funds to terrorists [are] outrageous and
completely irresponsible," she added.
For
its part, the U.S. State Department acknowledged the FBI was looking
into the matter.
However,
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "It's unlikely that
Princess Haifa or Prince Bandar would do anything knowingly to support
anybody connected to terrorist activities."
President
George W. Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer told reporters: "The
President believes that the Saudis have been good partners in the war
against terrorism."
In
Riyadh, a Saudi official said the authorities informed Washington of the
results of a probe into reports royal charity funds were indirectly
funneled to the two September 11 hijackers.
"A
Saudi investigation has taken place into the suspicions raised over the
channeling of funds by Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi
Ambassador to Washington", a Saudi official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, told AFP.
"The
results of the investigation have been communicated to the relevant U.S.
authorities, who were assured that there was no suspicion on the fact
that the princess granted financial aid to charity," the official
said.
Saudi
officials have confirmed that Princess Haifa had written checks that
were then signed over to friends and associates of two of the hijackers.
Meanwhile,
the Saudi Interior branded the Newsweek allegations as lies about
the Saudi royal family.
"These are simply lies
and words without any foundation," Prince Nayef told journalists in
Riyadh.
"It
would be wrong for them [Americans] to consider any aid granted by one
Saudi to another as a target for accusations."
He
classified donations like those of the princess as "humanitarian
aid" to fellow expatriates.
Saudi
Foreign Policy Advisor Adel al-Jubeir also denied the princess had been
aware that the money she had donated to a U.S.-based Saudi woman, Magda
Ibrahim Ahmed, had been passed on to militants.
A
Saudi official in Riyadh, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
"groups hostile to the kingdom and others who have links with the
Zionist lobby in Washington are seeking to harshen American public
opinion against Saudi Arabia, the Arabs and Muslims."
The
comment came after Senator Joseph Lieberman, a member of the Armed
Services committee, told CBS television Sunday, November 24 that
"the President ought to be demanding a full public accounting from
the FBI and the CIA about what they know about Saudi involvement"
in what was described as the financing of terrorism.
Charles
Butterworth, a specialist on the Middle East at the University of
Maryland, said there is a hostile opinion in the United States of Saudi
Arabia.
"Every
week, we hear people saying that the Saudis are behind everything that
happens in terrorism and that the regime in Riyadh must be
changed."
Saudi
Arabia would play a strategic role in any conflict in Iraq and a hint by
the Saudi Foreign Minister that his country would not support a U.S. war
against its 12-year-sanction-hit neighbor worried Washington.
The
Saudi government later said it would accept any measures agreed by the
United Nations.
