25 April 2002
White House Briefs on Bush Meeting with Saudi Crown Prince
(President, Saudi leader meet in Texas April 25 on Mideast issues)
(3190)
Following is a transcript of a background briefing in Crawford, Texas,
April 25 following a meeting between President Bush and Crown Prince
Abdallah of Saudi Arabia to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary (Crawford, Texas)
April 25, 2002
BACKGROUND BRIEFING BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ON THE
PRESIDENT'S MEETING WITH THE CROWN PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA
Crawford Elementary School Crawford, Texas
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, everyone. I think
you've just been listening to the President, so we'll go straight to
questions.
Q: How did the Crown Prince express his concerns regarding Israel's
conduct, Ariel Sharon's conduct? And did he express it as a threat to
U.S.-Saudi relations?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The Crown Prince expressed nothing as
a threat to U.S.-Saudi relations. Of course, I think the Saudis
themselves have said that U.S.-Saudi relations are strong. They are a
very important element of strategic stability in the region, and
indeed, in the world. The Crown Prince has made no secret of his
concerns about the current situation in the Middle East, as well as
taken very important steps to try to address the prospects for
long-term peace in the region. And that's what the President and the
Crown Prince talked about.
They found a lot in common in the way that they believe that we need
to approach both the short-term and the long-term. But this meeting
was very warm; this meeting was quite personal, and there were no
threats expressed.
Q: Did the President give the Saudi leader any assurances of putting
more pressure on Israel?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President talked again with the
Crown Prince about the responsibilities of all the parties. He talked
about their joint responsibility to get members, to get the parties to
act responsibly. The Crown Prince and the President reviewed the
bidding on where we are. And the President restated his views, as he
just did -- first of all, that the Israelis do need to complete the
withdrawal, finish the withdrawal; that Ramallah and Bethlehem need to
be peacefully resolved; and that Mr. Arafat needs to do more to stop
terror. And they talked about that.
Q: -- about U.S.-Saudi relations right now, but the future -- people
saying that that could be in jeopardy, the 60-year relationship. Was
that put forward? Did the Saudi Prince say, when I look forward a year
from now, I'm worried that this relationship could go off-course?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The Saudi Crown Prince and the
President took this opportunity to make an important step in the
process of continuing the extremely good relationship that the United
States and Saudi Arabia has enjoyed for decades now.
I might just take the moment to say that it was a very warm meeting,
it was a very personal meeting. I think they established a very good
personal rapport. The meeting went on for quite a long time. They met
in an expanded session for about an hour with the delegations, and
then they went into a one-on-one that was about an hour and 15 minutes
long. Vice President, Secretary Powell, Andy Card and I then went off
with our counterparts. They were alone for that hour and 15 minutes,
only with the translator. They then went on a tour of the ranch for
about 30 minutes, and then there was a lunch. And so they spent a lot
of time together. And I think that they both believe that the time
that they spend together developing their personal relationship is
going to serve Saudi-U.S. relations extremely well.
It's especially important in this part of the world to have good
personal relations. And as you probably know, it's important to this
President to have good personal relations. So I think Saudi-U.S.
relations are very strong. They have very, very many interests in
common, and they reaffirmed that today.
Q: -- a joint statement between the United States and Saudi Arabia?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There's no plan to issue a joint
statement.
Q: -- joint statement that never got issued.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: You know, after these meetings, we
sometimes have joint statements, and we sometimes don't have joint
statements. There is not going to be a joint statement for this
meeting.
Yes, Karen?
Q: Both sides came into this meeting with an objective in mind; the
President to get Arab -- one objective -- to get the Arabs to move
more in the direction that he's outlined; the Saudis wanting the
President to move more firmly against Israel. What comes out of this
in terms of progress on either side?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, this is a process, Karen. And
what they were able to talk about is how to move the short-term issues
forward.
And I might mention that, as the President said at the end of his
statement -- you might have noticed -- that because the Saudis are
going to be in town for a while longer, and because the situation in
the Middle East is still fluid, we're going to continue conversations
with them. There are no meetings scheduled, but we'll continue
conversations with them while they're here.
I think the President was able to explore fully the Crown Prince's
initiative, and how he sees that initiative as an opening for peace.
The President congratulated him again on his statesmanship in putting
that forward. And what the President really wanted to hear was how
does he, the Crown Prince, see the advancement of that initiative?
What can the United States do to advance that initiative? What next
steps would he propose to advancing that initiative?
Of course, they talked about the need to fix the current problem, the
current situation. They talked about the need to have, to finish the
Israeli withdrawals. They talked about the need to resolve the
Maqa'ata and Bethlehem peacefully. But this was an effort to develop a
process here that we think is going to go on for a very long time.
Q: -- raised the issue of oil in the meeting? Was the President asking
for assurance that oil would not be used as a political weapon?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think the Saudis said on the record
today that -- have said several times on the record, and I believe
they said either on the record or background today -- oil is not a
weapon for them. There was an assurance, reassurance given to the
President of that. We've never doubted that Saudi pledge for one
minute.
Q: How long a discussion was that? Was it just a brief --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Extremely brief, because the Saudis
wanted it to be known that they've always said oil was not going to be
a weapon. And we assured them that we had no doubts that they meant
it.
Q: -- (inaudible.)
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don't remember. It was -- no, it
just came up in the course of discussion. But it was very clear that
the Saudis wanted it understood that this is not their policy.
Q: Did the issues of U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia come up, or the
telethon?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President raised the telethon with
-- I'm sorry, not the President. We raised the telethon with the Saudi
Foreign Minister and the Ambassador after the President and the Crown
Prince went off, to get some details about what had been going on
here, because the President had raised with the Crown Prince concerns
to make sure that terrorism was not being incited in any way in the
region.
And the Saudis gave us a detailed explanation that, in fact, the
telethon proceeds are being funneled through non-governmental
organizations, including through the Red Cross, to deal with
humanitarian issues. And they themselves drew a very sharp distinction
between what they are doing, which is to try to provide some
humanitarian support to people in need and families in need, to the
contrast of what Saddam Hussein is doing, in paying $25,000 to
families who will sacrifice their children to suicide bombings. So the
Saudis, themselves, wanted to be -- wanted it to be understood that
what they are doing is humanitarian in nature, being funneled through
humanitarian relief organizations, and has no resemblance to what
Saddam Hussein is doing.
Q: Do you accept that?
Q: And the issue of U.S. bases, did that come up?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Did not.
Q: Do you accept --
Q: Did either leader mention today's New York Times story? Only
because it painted such a different scenario from what we're hearing
today. Did it come up in their conversation at all?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We talked to the Saudis about that
story, and they said that it in no way represented either their
expectations for this meeting, nor the outcome of this meeting, and it
was certainly somebody who was unauthorized, and certainly somebody
who was not a part of the Crown Prince's --
Q: -- characterize the meeting? The meeting was not that way at all --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The meeting was not at all
contentious; in fact, quite the opposite. This meeting was warm, it
was personal. The Saudi Crown Prince is a man who comes across as
honorable and honest, a man who has a deep desire to do better for his
people and for the region, who understands his deep responsibilities
as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and therefore the keeper of
Islam. They talked about faith, and the importance of faith and the
difficult jobs that they have. It couldn't have been warmer and more
personal.
Q: Did the Crown Prince raise a sense of alarm, if you will, about
where U.S. relations with Arab states are headed, given the situation
in the Middle East, and did the President accept that with some
concern?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The Crown Prince made very clear that
he has concerns about the region, and where the short-term situation
has left the region, and the need to get through this short-term
crisis and to get back on a path to peace.
The reason that the President gave the April 4th speech is that he,
too, believed that events were at what he called "a tipping point,"
where things were either going to get much worse, or we were going to
move forward. And what they talked about is how to move forward.
The Crown Prince was particularly appreciative of Secretary Powell's
visit to the region. He said that it was very clear that the President
had sent somebody in whom he had utmost confidence; that the Secretary
was doing his best to help defuse a very difficult situation. And they
talked about how to continue to defuse that situation going forward
and to get back on the road to peace. So they share a sense of concern
about the current situation, about how to move out of it.
Q: Does the President still believe Ariel Sharon is a man of peace?
And why didn't he put a deadline on his latest call for Sharon to
withdraw from these areas?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Why did he --
Q: Why did he not put a deadline on his latest call for withdrawal.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I think the President believes
that he has been crystal clear that he believes the Israeli withdrawal
needs to take place without delay. It has been taking place -- they
are out of Jenin; they are out of Nablus. The withdrawals are taking
place. The President believes this withdrawal needs to be completed.
We need to get through this so that we can get on with other things.
And the United States is doing what it can to support resolution of
the Church of the Nativity and Ramallah. But the President has been
clear from April 4th that this needs to take place now.
Your other question was --
Q: Does he still believe Sharon is a man of peace?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President said that he believes
that Prime Minister Sharon wants peace for his people. He takes at
face value that the leaders of the region want peace. And he's laid
out a very clear view of the responsibilities that they, therefore,
have to exercise if they are going to deliver on that desire for
peace.
Q: Can I ask -- despite the fact that the President says that he is
satisfied that Saudi Arabia condemns terrorism, what concrete evidence
is there that Saudi Arabia has applied the sort of pressure that we're
counting on Arab leaders to apply to other Arab leaders and to
Palestinians to get closer to peace?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, first of all, we've had
outstanding cooperation from the Saudis in the war on terrorism in
general. And I think -- let me have an opportunity to say that. For
instance, Secretary O'Neill was recently there to talk about terrorist
financing, and a lot of progress was made there. So the Saudis have
been stalwart in intelligence-sharing, in law enforcement, and across
the board in the war on terrorism generally.
They have also been active in encouraging the Palestinian Authority to
live up to its responsibilities to denounce terror and to act against
it. They have also, through the Crown Prince's desire to pursue peace
on the basis of his initiative, given a new opening to peace in the
region in which all of the parties could live in peace and security.
So I think the Saudis have been extremely constructive here. And what
the President followed up on with the Crown Prince was how the United
States and Saudi Arabia might further pursue these efforts.
Q: Can I follow up on that point? But there still is apparently this
impasse. I mean, if the Saudis are saying that the a problem with the
United States is that it's too pro-Israel, and we're saying that, yes,
we're calling on Israel to withdraw, but the Arab nations have to do
more -- they're saying, no, no, Israel withdraws first before anything
happens -- how is that not an impasse?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I've never heard in a discussion with
the Saudis the view that there aren't responsibilities across the
board. They understand that everybody has responsibilities here. The
President has laid out, I think as clearly as any American President,
the responsibilities that each party must undertake in order to
deliver peace.
And what the Crown Prince and the President were able to do today, in
a lot of extended time together, is to both strengthen their personal
bond and to talk about how next steps might get us back on a road to
peace. And I think it's an extremely positive development.
Q: Did the Crown Prince today tell the President that at least in the
short-term U.S. credibility was eroding because the President did not
put more pressure on Ariel Sharon?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The Saudi Crown Prince expressed his
appreciation for the efforts that the administration has been making
all the way back to try and bring peace to the region. There's no
doubt that the Saudis, others, the United States included, would like
to see greater results in the short-term crisis that we face. But they
talked not just about the short-term crisis. They talked both about
ways to resolve that, and they talked about ways to move to the
longer-term. And so the Saudi Crown Prince and the President expressed
mutual admiration for each other in their efforts at peace making.
Q: Within this last thing that you said, were there any particular
ideas shared or presented by either side on the short-term, and was
there any mechanism discussed for the long-term, activating the
process, taking it forward, including a kind of international
conference? And did you discuss Iraq?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: They discussed a number of possible
ways to move forward. As you know, when Secretary Powell was in the
region, he found a lot of support for the idea of an international
conference. The administration is, in a sense, consulting with people
about what might be helpful. We haven't made any decision about
whether we think an international conference makes sense now. Any such
conference would have to be very well-prepared.
But this is an opportunity to -- this was an opportunity to consult
with, clearly, one of the most important players for whatever
mechanism you use to bring peace. So, of course, they talked about a
variety of ideas, including about whether an international conference
might be a good idea. But they didn't come to any decision about it,
obviously.
Yes, they discussed Iraq. The President, once again, noted that Saddam
Hussein and his efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction are a
threat to the region, a threat to American interests. I think it's
worth saying that the Saudis clearly understand the dangers from
Saddam Hussein. They live in his neighborhood; they know what kind of
regime that is. And they also discussed the importance of the
obligations that Saddam Hussein understood to assure the world that he
would not have weapons of mass destruction through inspections.
Last question.
Q: You said several times that one aspect of the war on terrorism is
the promotion in security, universal values, democracy, rights of
women, et cetera. But it seems when it comes to Saudi Arabia, we don't
do that. Did the President raise that today, and how so?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The Saudis are a society that we
believe is also undergoing some changes. And one of the agents of that
change is this Crown Prince, who has a reform agenda of his own. We
are not so arrogant as to assume that we know how the values that
we're talking about are going to be expressed in every country in the
world. I would remind people that even in our country religious
differences lead people to have different answers about how these
values get expressed. And so when we talk with other countries, we
express our belief in the values. We're not lecturing others on how to
go about that.
But this is a man, the Crown Prince, who does have a reform agenda.
One of the elements of that reform agenda, for instance, is the Saudi
desire to get into the WTO. The President was able to tell the Saudi
Crown Prince not only that the United States supports Saudi accession
to the WTO, but also that we are making available to the Saudis
technical assistance to help them create a path to get into the WTO.
So we want to be as supportive as possible of the reform agenda here,
as well as the reform agenda in a number of other Gulf countries like
Bahrain and Qatar. And that conversation did take place.
Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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