The Saudi Ambassador the United Kingdom and Ireland, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, reiterated the importance of publishing the blanked-out section of the U.S. congressional report on the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001, so as to the enable the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to respond.
In a statement to British television Channel 4 on Thursday, Prince Turki said: “We urge publication of these pages of the report. We cannot comment on matters that remain undisclosed.”
He noted that U.S. President George W. Bush had stressed the importance of the friendship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States, and their continued cooperation to confront terrorism.
“We have no idea about the matters of which we have been accused. We have no idea about the contents of the omitted pages. As we have not been informed about the contents of these pages, it is impossible for us to respond,” Prince Turki said.
On the possibility of using petroleum as a weapon to apply pressure on the U.S. to publish the missing pages, Prince Turki said: “The oil market is characterized by price fluctuation. We will not resort to deploying oil as a weapon, because there are alternative sources.”
Asked to comment on reports on Saudi citizen, Omar Bayoumi, and his alleged terrorist connections, Prince Turki said that Bayoumi had been interrogated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) before and after the incidents of 11 September, and was subsequently released.
“When he left the U.S. for Britain he was also interrogated by the FBI, and British authorities were requested to further interrogate him. Again he was released,” he said. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not consider it reasonable that Bayoumi be taken to another country for interrogation, but we do not object to his being interrogated within the Kingdom.”
Emphasizing the readiness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to cooperate with the U.S. to combat terrorism, Prince Turki said: “The Kingdom was cooperating with the United States in this respect even before the incidents of 11 September 2001.”
Prince Turki noted that when he was working as President of Saudi Intelligence Administration, he went to Afghanistan to persuade Taliban leaders, the former rulers of Afghanistan, to extradite Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qa’ida organization, to put him on trial before the Kingdom’s courts.
Source: SPA
