Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia yesterday dismissed allegations that the kingdom may have been involved in the September 11th, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Michael Jansen reports from Nicosia
An unidentified Saudi spokesman accused "individuals with a grudge against our government" of being behind suggestions, made in a US congressional report into the intelligence failures surrounding September 11th, of Saudi official implication.
He blamed congressmen from the Democratic party for trying to target both the Bush administration and Saudi Arabia. "They are running for election," he said in explanation.
The Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandhar ibn Sultan, denied any ties between the 15 Saudi hijack bombers of al-Qaeda and the government, and argued that the kingdom has co-operated closely with the US in its anti-terrorism campaign.
He suggested that the 28 censored pages in the report, said to deal with the Saudi role, have not been made public because allegations contained in these sections could not be substantiated.
He accused the authors of the report of using "rumours, innuendos and untruths" to harm his country, and of making these charges "with blank pieces of paper".
The report, the details of which emerged months ago during congressional hearings, faults Riyadh on three issues: failing to co-operate fully with US teams in investigations of attacks on US troops and civilians in the kingdom; not providing evidence on the activities of al-Qaeda; and refusing to explain the connection between a Saudi student and two of the men involved in the September 11th bombings.
Mr Omar al-Bayoumi, who had been liberally supplied with funds, met two Saudi hijackers, Khaled al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, in San Diego and helped them rent an apartment, paying the first month's rent and the security deposit.
Prince Bandar's wife and another member of the royal family, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, donated money to a students' fund tapped by two of the hijackers.
The US-Saudi connection, forged in 1945 by President Franklin Roosevelt and King Abdel Aziz ibn Saud, has been based on the exchange of Saudi oil for US protection.
The Saudis have also been one of the best customers for US military hardware, and have played a key role in the US-sponsored policy of undermining Arab nationalist regimes by promoting militant Islam. Saudi Arabia funded the US-directed anti-Soviet Islamist campaign in Afghanistan.
However, neither Riyadh nor Washington understood until the 1996 bombing of US military housing in al-Kobar that radical Islamists, angered over the tie to the US due to its support for Israel, were gaining support in the kingdom.
This process was not only embarrassing for Riyadh but also dangerous as the legitimacy of the Saudi monarchy comes from its bond with the deeply-conservative Wahhabi sect which dictates domestic religious, social and educational policy.