27 August 2002
Bush Tells Saudi Ambassador No Decision on Action on Iraq
(Discuss terrorism, Iraq, Middle East, child custody cases) (1090) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush and his National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice met privately for more than an hour August 27 with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States, at the Bush family home in Texas. They discussed a variety of issues, including Iraq, the Middle East, and the war against terror, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters following the meeting. On Iraq, Bush stressed that he has made no decisions on military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power and will continue to engage in consultations with Saudi Arabia and other nations on the issue, Fleischer said. But, Fleischer said, Bush "made very clear again that he believes Saddam Hussein is a menace to world peace, a menace to regional peace, and that the world and the region would be safer and better off without" him. On the Middle East, the discussions included the "prospects of enhancing peace" in the area, Fleischer said. The three also "discussed the war on terrorism and Saudi Arabia's cooperation in the war," he said. And the president raised the issue of disputed child custody cases in families in which one parent is Saudi and one American, and the children are American citizens, Fleischer said, and the president specifically spoke about the case of Amjad Radwan "and asked for that issue to be resolved so she can be brought back to the United States." He said "the President cited the humanitarian concerns, the issues involving justice and the rights of people to come back to the United States, if that's their desire" in the Amjad Radwan case and in other cases. "On this, the ambassador said he would relay the message back to officials in Saudi Arabia. But the president made a very powerful case, based on humanitarian reasons, based on America's sense of justice and based on what the president views as a matter of right and wrong," Fleischer said. Fleischer said another topic in the Bush-Bandar discussions was support for reconstruction in Afghanistan. "The President did remind Saudi Arabia, as he does other nations, about their responsibility to meet the pledges they have made" towards reconstruction, he said. "Many nations around the world have pledged to contribute money for the reconstruction of the Afghani government and very few nations, including Saudi Arabia, have met their commitments. The President urged Saudi Arabia to meet their commitment." Fleischer noted that Prince Bandar was accompanied by his family on the visit to the ranch, saying that it "was both a social visit as well as a business visit." Following the private discussions with Bush and Rice, Prince Bandar and his family had lunch with the president and first lady. "And the President just now finished a tour of the ranch with Prince Bandar and his family," Fleischer said. Fleischer also reported that President Bush and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah had an 18-minute telephone conversation August 26 in which the President spoke to him about overall U.S.-Saudi relations. The two leaders, Fleischer said, discussed the recent Rand Corporation presentation to the U.S. Defense Policy Board that portrayed Saudi Arabia as supporting the enemies of the United States. Fleischer said the President conveyed to the Crown Prince that the Rand analyst's views "had nothing to do with the views of any senior-level government administration officials, including himself, including the Secretary of Defense or the Vice President. And they also talked about the path to peace in the Middle East," Fleischer said. The topic of Iraq did not come up in that conversation, he said. The Saudi Press Agency reported correctly "the gist" of that phone discussion, Fleischer said, but said quotes in some later American accounts "are not accurate, they're not verbatim." Asked if oil was discussed at the meeting at the Bush ranch, or in the president's phone call earlier, Fleischer said he did not "have anything specific on that. I just know, as I indicated yesterday, the Saudis have a long-standing policy, which we have seen carried out in action, in addition to rhetoric, about not using oil as a weapon." State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, asked August 27 at his daily briefing for reporters about the meeting among Bandar, Bush and Rice, said the State Department is working with its colleagues at the National Security Council "in a coordinated fashion in terms of the various contacts we have with the Saudi government." "Overall," Boucher said the United States, has a "very solid relationship" with Saudi Arabia, based on common interests that demonstrates "a lot of active cooperation on important issues." "We are cooperating and working with the Saudi government in the fight against terrorism, in all its aspects, especially in areas involving finance, legal matters, investigations," he said. "We're cooperating and working very closely with Saudi Arabia on the issue of peace in the Middle East," he said. And, he said, regarding Iraq, while "we don't agree necessarily on every issue," the fact is "that we and Saudi Arabia are both concerned about the dangers that the regime of Saddam Hussein represents, about making sure that he never again threatens his neighbors, threatens his people and threatens the regional stability. Those are issues that we also discuss very actively with Saudi Arabia." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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