The Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, affirmed that the Kingdom is fully cooperating with the United States in the fight against terrorism, and condemned a report published yesterday on the role of U.S. intelligence agencies prior to the terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001, saying that the report criticizes Saudi Arabia “with blank pieces of paper”.
“In a 900-page report, 28 blanked-out pages are being used to malign our country and our people,” Prince Bandar said in a statement issued to reporters today. “Rumours, innuendos, and untruths about the Kingdom have become the order of the day.”
Prince Bandar said that Saudi Arabia is one of Washington’s “most active partners” in the world in the ongoing war against terrorism, and cited ongoing anti-terrorism operations, legislation in the Kingdom, and recent statements by senior U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, to this end.
The Ambassador said that 28 pages were left blank in the long-awaited report on U.S. intelligence because “the information contained therein could not be substantiated”.
“Saudi Arabia has nothing to hide. We can deal with, and respond to, questions in public, but we cannot respond to blank pages,” he said.
The report by the independent Congressional Commission into the role played by U.S. intelligence prior to the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon concluded that U.S. domestic and foreign intelligence operations failed adequately to share information, pursue leads, and focus on the threat posed by al-Qa’ida within the United States.
Source: SPA
