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American Morning

Bush, Saudi Crown Prince Discuss Middle East

Aired April 26, 2002 - 09:08   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: Now we're going to move on to summit between President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

Our Kelly Wallace is standing by at the White House.

Good morning -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, again, to you, Paula.

ZAHN: It is interesting that when you pick up the papers and you listen to television reporters this morning it seems that the Saudis and the Americans are putting out two different versions of what actually happened at the president's Crawford ranch.

WALLACE: They are certainly, Paula, emphasizing different things, shall we say that? Because, certainly, a lot of attention going into this meeting. There's lot of smiles as the president greeted the crown prince yesterday at his ranch. But following nearly five hours of talk, the crown prince did not talk to reporters. His foreign policy adviser did, though, and he said that the crown prince gave a very blunt message to the president. We've been talking about that all morning, the crown prince saying that the U.S. needs to put more pressure on Israel. If it does not, prospects for peace in the region very dim and that the U.S. could face "grave consequences" according to a Saudi official in the region.

The Saudis did, though, say that they would not use oil as a weapon against the U.S. U.S. officials, for their part, emphasizing something else. They were saying this meeting was very warm. Very personal. Mr. Bush himself saying he developed a very strong personal bond with the crown prince. Still, though, disagreements remain about what to do to stop the violence between the Israeli and the Palestinians. So you could say they agree that there are disagreements. They were certainly emphasizing, though, different things coming out of that session -- Paula.

ZAHN: And what happened on the issue of any pressure that might be brought to bare on the Saudis for doing things within their own borders to help fight the war on terrorism?

WALLACE: Interesting, also, because the president was asked that very question during his news conference. Did he ask for any more specific commitment from the Saudis? It does not appear that he's getting anything more specific. He has called on the Saudis to crackdown and stop any incitement of terror. The president also was stressing the positive, saying the Saudis are working with U.S. officials to stop terrorist financing and share intelligence information.

The Saudi telethon, you will remember that telethon in Saudi Arabia not too long ago, that issue did not come up between the president and the crown prince, although U.S. officials did bring it up with the Saudi foreign minister that concern that that money could be going to the families of the suicide bombers. U.S. officials say the Saudi say that money is simply going to help humanitarian cause in the region -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Kelly Wallace, thanks for walking through all that territory for us this morning. Have a good weekend.

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