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Bush, Saudi Ambassador to Meet
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Bush met earlier in the week with Saud Foreign Minsiter Prince Saud al Faisal .
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CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar to his Texas ranch Tuesday to try to mend ties sorely tested following the September 11 attacks and splits over Iraq and the Middle East.
But the White House did its best to down play tensions, and said that the President looked forward to the visit - Bandar's second trip to Bush's beloved Prairie Chapel ranch - on a personal as well as diplomatic level.
"The President enjoys his time with Prince Bandar. He's a very affable fellow, very good humor, speaks English better than most Americans," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, characterized the meeting as a warm visit by two old friends rather than an intense diplomatic session, insisting that "relations are strong."
Other issues to be discussed will be the “war on terrorism” and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that Bush telephoned Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz to reassure him that relations with Saudi Arabia, Washington's main ally in the Gulf, remained strong and to dismiss talk of strains as groundless.
"The reports only reflect the personal opinions of their authors and can never adversely impact the eternal friendship between the two countries, the level of their cooperation over several decades and particularly existing cooperation and coordination in the face of the current situation," SPA quoted Bush as saying.
The ambassador's visit comes as historically good relations between the two nations in the 70 years since Saudi Arabia was founded have been blighted with mistrust, fueled by a war of words in the press, trillion-dollar lawsuits, and questions about Riyadh's aid in the war on terrorism.
Fleischer indicated Bush and Bandar would likely tackle many of the issues that have divided their nations, including efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and bring war to Iraq in a bid to oust Saddam Hussein.
Exemplifying the difference of opinion over Iraq, just hours before the two are to meet, CNN reports a Saudi official in the kingdom reiterating that the country opposes military action against Iraq.
"There is a diplomatic process that is going on and we should pursue that," Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign policy adviser, said on CNN. "We don't believe that the case has been made in terms of a war against Iraq and we don't think that people have thought through all the consequences."
Affirming the kingdom's opposition to an incursion, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal previously remarked that the U.S. would not have access to Saudi facilities in an attack on Iraq.
Bandar is expected to make Saudi Arabia's case against a U.S. war with Iraq by pointing out that it cannot stand alone in the Arab world on the issue and that the U.S. has failed to make its case to the world that Iraq is currently building weapons of mass destruction, reports CNN.
News agencies report the ranch invitation is a conciliatory gesture following the flare-ups in U.S.-Saudi relations, including a recommendation from a private defense analyst to a Pentagon advisory board that the Arab ally be given an ultimatum to stop supporting terrorism or face retaliation. Among the recommendations made by the analyst was that the U.S. either bomb or occupy Saudi Arabia’s oil fields.
Officials on both sides have been downplaying tensions between Washington and Riyadh since 19 terrorists - 15 of them from Saudi Arabia - crashed hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
The Bush administration never has held the Saudi government responsible for the actions if its nationals.
Related to the issue of blaming Saudi Arabia for alleged support of al-Qaeda and other groups, Bandar does not plan to initiate any discussion of a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 600 relatives of those killed in the September 11 attacks, because the Saudi royal family considers it "culturally offensive and undignified," sources said. The suit against Saudi princes, international banks and other institutions seeks $1 trillion in damages, reports CNN.
Saudi diplomats consider "ridiculous" the lawsuit's accusation that Saudi officials paid al-Qaeda to protect Saudi sites from terrorist attacks, sources said. U.S. officials have heard the claims before but have been unable to verify them, reports the cable news network.
However, in a continuing public effort to whip up U.S. public support for a war against Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday Saddam Hussein could be expected to "seek domination of the entire Middle East" and manipulate the world's energy supplies because Iraq holds 10% of the world's oil reserves, reports CNN.
In an apparent conciliatory gesture, Saudi officials are saying Riyadh will make up any shortfall in oil production due to war against Iraq, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In addition, Saudi Arabia recently announced the arrests of alleged al-Qaeda sympathizers, including 11 Saudis accused of plotting to shoot down a U.S. military plane. But a Saudi official said Monday they have not yet found any connection between al-Qaeda and those in custody.
But the U.S. media has reported that Saudi Arabia has been dragging its heels on several fronts and has played up links between Saudis and brands of Islam espoused by extremists.
Washington says its longtime Gulf ally has been playing a "constructive" role in fighting terrorists, while Riyadh has taken pains to distance itself from Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, which claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks.
But a leaked July 10 Pentagon briefing portrayed the kingdom as a "kernel of evil" and an enemy of the United States, active in terrorism at every level.
And some members of Congress, including some in a seven-member House delegation to visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday seeking clarification of the monarchy's antiterrorism policies, are not sure about Saudi reliability in the “war on terrorism.”
White House officials, however, stress Saudi Arabia is a valuable ally in the war, its efforts in playing a lead role to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian settlement and assisting Washington in promoting reform within the Palestinian Authority.
Saudi officials also say the 125 Saudi nationals captured during the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have not been charged with links to bin Laden or al-Qaeda.
Bin Laden, the scion of a prominent Saudi family, was stripped of his citizenship in 1994.
Economic ties between Riyadh and Washington have also drifted since last year's attacks and a military offensive Israel launched against the Palestinians in the West Bank in late March.
U.S. exports to Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2002 plunged to a 12-year low, as Saudis, like many other Arabs and Muslims, took heed of a grassroots campaign to boycott U.S. products in protest over Washington's perceived backing of Israel against the Palestinians.
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