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American Morning

Bush Meets With Saudi Crown Prince

Aired April 26, 2002 - 08:25   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says a five hour meeting at his ranch with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah helped them form a "personal bond." But the prince has reportedly blasted the president on U.S. Middle East policy, saying there will be grave consequences if violence didn't diminish in the Middle East. One senior Saudi adviser says the United States thinks Arafat is the problem and we think Sharon is the problem.

Joining us now is CNN's senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield.

Thanks for helping us wrap up the week here.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

ZAHN: I want to put up on the screen very quickly how a person close to the crown prince was quoted in the "New York Times" yesterday talking about the Saudi complaints about U.S. policy. "Bush made a strategic, conscious decision to go with Sharon so your national interest is no longer our national interest. Now we don't have joint national interests. What it means is that you go your way, we will go ours and the anti-terror coalition would collapse in the process."

Now, is this shades of deja vu here?

GREENFIELD: Oh, yes.

ZAHN: And we have heard this before, haven't we?

GREENFIELD: Yes, the idea that this has something to do with the current Israeli incursion or post-September 11, last February the "Washington Post" in a really interesting and I think much overlooked story reported that back in August of 2001, so we're talking pre- September 11, Crown Prince Abdullah, the very same fellow who was in Texas, heard a Bush press conference where he praised Sharon and attacked Arafat and went, in the words of a Saudi, ballistic, had his ambassador in Washington go to Condi Rice and say almost word for word what you just put up on the screen. Listen, if you're going to be that strong on Israel, then your interests -- meaning America's -- and the Saudi interests are going to diverge. You go your way, we go ours. He pulled a military aid back on the, just when they were supposed to have a joint meeting with the United States military.

So the idea that this has something to do with the current crisis is not right. The Saudis have been, and particularly Crown Prince Abdullah, has been saying to the United States we can't be with you strategically if you're going to be this strong for Israel. And it goes back at least, almost, well, nine or 10 months now.

ZAHN: Now, is the threat new, or the grave consequences? Because there were mixed signals coming from his foreign ministry yesterday, saying potentially oil is going to be used as a weapon. Late yesterday afternoon those same officials coming out and saying no, that's not true. A front page story in the "Wall Street Journal" today saying yes, there are far more subtle ways to tinker with the oil supply.

GREENFIELD: Yes.

ZAHN: You know, you can tinker with production and...

GREENFIELD: Jack up the price.

ZAHN: ... oil embargo and do all kinds of things that are more subtle.

GREENFIELD: But here's the thing. One of the neat things about blind items that was in the "New York Times" yesterday is it gives you plausible deniability. You can, it's like a burlesque dancer's costume. It covers just barely enough but it reveals more than it covers. It's a way of giving a signal to officials and to the broader American public and then pulling it back and saying oh, no, no, we didn't mean that.

The idea of an oil embargo right now is probably absolute fantasy. That may be more to impress homegrown Saudis, you know, the so-called street than it is Americans because oil output accounts for something like 40 percent of the total Saudi domestic, gross domestic product and their unemployment rate is at staggeringly high depression levels in recent years. So that kind of threat is more, as I said, for public consumption.

ZAHN: We understand, according to Kelly Wallace, that the whole issue of what to do about Iraq was broached. We don't have a lot of details on that. But given what you're saying about the Saudi position, if the United States decides to go into Iraq, is it a unilateral mission?

GREENFIELD: Well, one of the interesting things that the United States has been leaking out is apparently they put on the table to the Saudis a couple of days ago an account of how well their weaponry functioned in Afghanistan, this new generation of stuff, which may be a way of saying to the Saudis, well, we'd really like you with us, but, you know, we don't really need you.

The most fundamental question, though, you know, is what it always has been. These day to day things can often conceal broader problems.

Can the Saudis, if there's some kind of breakthrough, can the Saudis persuade the Palestinians and the rejectionist states -- Iran, Iraq, even Syria -- to go along with a peace plan, if there is one? Can the United States, in fact, tell Israel or Sharon dismantle the settlements and give back a lot more land than you want?

And I think both of those questions are very much in doubt. So the notion that these are two powers that can do in the region what they want if they could agree, I don't know where that's coming from.

ZAHN: What do you think of this new personal bond the president says he's forged with the crown prince?

GREENFIELD: You know, President Bush, remember what he said with Putin, the same kind of thing?

ZAHN: Right.

GREENFIELD: I looked into his soul and I found a good man. There's nothing wrong with personal bonds. But when you have enmity going back 2,000 years in a region, you sometimes wonder just how effective that could be. It's certainly better than if they met each other and hated each other. But I guess the other bond we should talk about very briefly is Bush 41, because from the Arab point of view, George Bush the father was the most sympathetic to the Arab cause, the least sympathetic to Israel of any post, of any president since Israel was founded. So maybe they see a genetic trend they're hoping to take advantage of.

ZAHN: All right, thanks, Jeff.

GREENFIELD: OK.

ZAHN: Have a good weekend.

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