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CNN Live Today

Interview With Adel Al-Jubeir

Aired December 03, 2002 - 11:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go back to Washington and get some more back on this topic that we heard moments ago coming from the Saudi foreign adviser, Adel Al-Jubeir, who was talking about different measures Saudi Arabia now is taking to track down money that is making its way through its charities and may be getting into the hands of terrorists.
Our Andrea Koppel, our State Department correspondent, is standing by -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Leon, that's right. Abel Al-Jubeir just wrapped up his press conference, and he is joining us live. He's the chief foreign policy adviser to the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah.

Adel, I'd like to ask you, one of the reasons you said that you wanted to have this press conference is because your government hasn't done a good enough job getting out all of what you have done. Why haven't you?

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Our nature. We just -- we assume that law enforcement issues and issues involving governments should be handled discreetly. It turns out that that assumption, in this case, was wrong, and that the only way to counter charges that are baseless is with facts. And as Ronald Reagan used to say, facts are stubborn things.

KOPPEL: One of the questions had to do with Saudi support for various terrorist organizations -- alleged support. You mentioned Hamas and the Islamic jihad. These are organizations that have been conducting terrorist attacks against the Israelis. Does your government give any money to the families of suicide bombers?

AL-JUBEIR: No, the government that we -- the money that goes from Saudi Arabia to the Palestinians goes through official channels. It goes through the Red Cross, the Red Crescent Society, the United Nations relief organizations that operate in the territories. It is targeted towards Palestinians who are in need, Palestinians who don't have food on their table, who don't have medicine on the pharmacy shelves. That's where the funds go to.

We do not target the families of suicide bombers. Our chief religious theologian a year-and-a-half ago condemned suicide bombings, and we don't believe that they serve any political purpose.

KOPPEL: As you know, there was a document that came out a number of months back that the Israeli government put forward that said -- that quoted Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, saying that he was complaining that Hamas was getting all of the money, and it should be going to the PA.

AL-JUBEIR: I can't speak for what President Arafat says or doesn't say, nor can I speak to documents that the Israelis put out, the authenticity of which we have no idea about. What I can speak to is what my government's actions are, and they are as I outlined. We do not give money directly to Palestinians. We give it to them through international relief organizations, just like your government does.

KOPPEL: Why hasn't your message reached the American people and reached into the American government? You and I have had many conversations. You said in some instances, the left hand isn't talking to the right hand.

AL-JUBEIR: Yes, I think you have identified this issue. Our government is very small. We're very good of coordinating, because it's just a few institutions. Your government is very vast and it's very complex, and you have over two dozen organizations or departments that may be dealing with these issues. We don't know them. We have one formal liaison we work within. And if the word does not get out to other government departments, the fault really lies on this side of the Atlantic, not on our side.

We have pushed. I personally have raised this issue with your government several times. Your senior officials are aware of the situation, as are our officials. We are working together to alleviate the problem, to broaden our contacts, to deepen them, to ensure that coordinating works flawlessly, and I have no doubt that we will succeed.

KOPPEL: You mentioned during the press conference, you know, that when these reports come out, it's unnamed U.S. officials. But you know Washington as well as the next person. That's not the way it works here. If there is criticism, especially between close allies, they leak these stories. Why should we just assume they're not true?

AL-JUBEIR: Because, Andrea, like you said, I understand how people play the game here. If there is criticism, it gets leaked, and we respond to it. But when what gets leaked is a fabrication or is just not true or is outrageous, then there's no reason for it. And that's where we say, let the people who have consistently been trashing Saudi Arabia say so publicly. We are allies.

KOPPEL: But the Bush administration is not going to do that, and you understand that. At this very sensitive time when we're really perhaps on the verge of a war with Iraq, they're not going to criticize publicly Saudi Arabia.

AL-JUBEIR: Well, here is what we have. We have extensive contact with your government at the highest levels. It's virtually daily contact. We are very open with where we think your faults are. We expect you to be open with us about what you think our faults are. If you are not, then you're not being good friends. And so, my point is, I have not heard a fraction of the charges that are being bandied about in the press towards Saudi Arabia from your officials in meetings that are behind closed doors.

KOPPEL: Your ambassador here has been charged, and his wife, with inadvertently perhaps giving money that ended up in the hands of two 9/11 hijackers. Are you prepared to put forward documents and evidence to prove that this did not happen?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, we don't even have to. Your FBI has this. This issue was investigated a year ago. They found no link from Princess Haifa directly to the hijackers. Our embassy cooperated with the FBI on this matter a year ago. And then out of the blue, it pops out when there's a political football between Congress and the executive branch, and we happen to be the victim here.

KOPPEL: OK, well, in that note, Adel al-Jubeir, thank you very much for joining us.

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you, Andrea.

KOPPEL: As you can hear, Leon, the Saudi government continues to deny any and all reports that are out there, saying not only that it hasn't cooperated to its -- to the fullest extent it can on the war on terrorism, but also that its government or any Saudi citizens have supported terrorism -- global terrorism -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, only time will tell whether or not this new PR effort is actually going to pay off in the way that Mr. Al-Jubeir is expecting it to. Andrea Koppel, thank you very much. We'll check back with you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired December 3, 2002 - 11:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go back to Washington and get some more back on this topic that we heard moments ago coming from the Saudi foreign adviser, Adel Al-Jubeir, who was talking about different measures Saudi Arabia now is taking to track down money that is making its way through its charities and may be getting into the hands of terrorists.
Our Andrea Koppel, our State Department correspondent, is standing by -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Leon, that's right. Abel Al-Jubeir just wrapped up his press conference, and he is joining us live. He's the chief foreign policy adviser to the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah.

Adel, I'd like to ask you, one of the reasons you said that you wanted to have this press conference is because your government hasn't done a good enough job getting out all of what you have done. Why haven't you?

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Our nature. We just -- we assume that law enforcement issues and issues involving governments should be handled discreetly. It turns out that that assumption, in this case, was wrong, and that the only way to counter charges that are baseless is with facts. And as Ronald Reagan used to say, facts are stubborn things.

KOPPEL: One of the questions had to do with Saudi support for various terrorist organizations -- alleged support. You mentioned Hamas and the Islamic jihad. These are organizations that have been conducting terrorist attacks against the Israelis. Does your government give any money to the families of suicide bombers?

AL-JUBEIR: No, the government that we -- the money that goes from Saudi Arabia to the Palestinians goes through official channels. It goes through the Red Cross, the Red Crescent Society, the United Nations relief organizations that operate in the territories. It is targeted towards Palestinians who are in need, Palestinians who don't have food on their table, who don't have medicine on the pharmacy shelves. That's where the funds go to.

We do not target the families of suicide bombers. Our chief religious theologian a year-and-a-half ago condemned suicide bombings, and we don't believe that they serve any political purpose.

KOPPEL: As you know, there was a document that came out a number of months back that the Israeli government put forward that said -- that quoted Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, saying that he was complaining that Hamas was getting all of the money, and it should be going to the PA.

AL-JUBEIR: I can't speak for what President Arafat says or doesn't say, nor can I speak to documents that the Israelis put out, the authenticity of which we have no idea about. What I can speak to is what my government's actions are, and they are as I outlined. We do not give money directly to Palestinians. We give it to them through international relief organizations, just like your government does.

KOPPEL: Why hasn't your message reached the American people and reached into the American government? You and I have had many conversations. You said in some instances, the left hand isn't talking to the right hand.

AL-JUBEIR: Yes, I think you have identified this issue. Our government is very small. We're very good of coordinating, because it's just a few institutions. Your government is very vast and it's very complex, and you have over two dozen organizations or departments that may be dealing with these issues. We don't know them. We have one formal liaison we work within. And if the word does not get out to other government departments, the fault really lies on this side of the Atlantic, not on our side.

We have pushed. I personally have raised this issue with your government several times. Your senior officials are aware of the situation, as are our officials. We are working together to alleviate the problem, to broaden our contacts, to deepen them, to ensure that coordinating works flawlessly, and I have no doubt that we will succeed.

KOPPEL: You mentioned during the press conference, you know, that when these reports come out, it's unnamed U.S. officials. But you know Washington as well as the next person. That's not the way it works here. If there is criticism, especially between close allies, they leak these stories. Why should we just assume they're not true?

AL-JUBEIR: Because, Andrea, like you said, I understand how people play the game here. If there is criticism, it gets leaked, and we respond to it. But when what gets leaked is a fabrication or is just not true or is outrageous, then there's no reason for it. And that's where we say, let the people who have consistently been trashing Saudi Arabia say so publicly. We are allies.

KOPPEL: But the Bush administration is not going to do that, and you understand that. At this very sensitive time when we're really perhaps on the verge of a war with Iraq, they're not going to criticize publicly Saudi Arabia.

AL-JUBEIR: Well, here is what we have. We have extensive contact with your government at the highest levels. It's virtually daily contact. We are very open with where we think your faults are. We expect you to be open with us about what you think our faults are. If you are not, then you're not being good friends. And so, my point is, I have not heard a fraction of the charges that are being bandied about in the press towards Saudi Arabia from your officials in meetings that are behind closed doors.

KOPPEL: Your ambassador here has been charged, and his wife, with inadvertently perhaps giving money that ended up in the hands of two 9/11 hijackers. Are you prepared to put forward documents and evidence to prove that this did not happen?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, we don't even have to. Your FBI has this. This issue was investigated a year ago. They found no link from Princess Haifa directly to the hijackers. Our embassy cooperated with the FBI on this matter a year ago. And then out of the blue, it pops out when there's a political football between Congress and the executive branch, and we happen to be the victim here.

KOPPEL: OK, well, in that note, Adel al-Jubeir, thank you very much for joining us.

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you, Andrea.

KOPPEL: As you can hear, Leon, the Saudi government continues to deny any and all reports that are out there, saying not only that it hasn't cooperated to its -- to the fullest extent it can on the war on terrorism, but also that its government or any Saudi citizens have supported terrorism -- global terrorism -- Leon.

HARRIS: Well, only time will tell whether or not this new PR effort is actually going to pay off in the way that Mr. Al-Jubeir is expecting it to. Andrea Koppel, thank you very much. We'll check back with you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.