Saudi Arabia Must Revise Alliance With U.S.: Paper

RIYADH, August 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Saudi Arabia must revise its strategic alliance with the United States, a Saudi newspaper warned Friday, August 16, in the wake of a fierce campaign against the Gulf state in U.S. media, and one day after a U.S. lawsuit alleged that three members of the Saudi royal family are covertly financing the Al-Qaeda terror network.

"There is a need to revise the [kingdom's] international strategic relations," said Al-Riyadh, a paper that normally reflects the government’s line of thinking.

"At the top of that comes the need to reconsider U.S.-Saudi strategic ties," the daily said in a front-page editorial, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"We must question those who think that America is our strategic option that cannot be substituted. Those will put us in a narrow space, and their [belief] is not supported by objective justification," the paper added.

Al-Riyadh made no direct reference to the lawsuit but strongly criticized the July 10 Rand Corp. briefing that branded Saudi Arabia the "kernel of evil" and an enemy of the United States, and warned of "more surprises" from Washington.

Okaz newspaper, which reported the story, branded the suit as "the largest operation of blackmail plotted by secret hands."

The Saudi princes named in the suit were Saudi Defense and Aviation Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal al-Saud and businessman Mohammad al-Faisal al-Saud.