Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Interview with Adel Al-Jubeir

Aired August 27, 2002 - 08:11   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, President Bush gearing up for a meeting later today with Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. They will have lunch at the ranch in Texas. But there's a lot on the table. The president's meeting with Prince Bandar bin Sultan is to clear the air, we are told, about some issues separating the two allies as the president continues to mull plans for a possible attack on Baghdad.
We welcome Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Saudi Arabia's crown prince, in Washington.

Good to see you again and good morning to you.

ADEL AL-JUBEIR, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER: Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: It's been several months since we have spoken. Good to have you back, though.

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you. Always a pleasure.

HEMMER: Listen, how much does Iraq dominate the topic, the agenda, the conversations today?

AL-JUBEIR: I think it will be discussed. But I wouldn't say it will dominate. The issue here is to talk about the special relationship that exists between the two countries, and this visit is a reflection of that. There are a lot of issues with regards to the war on terrorism, the cooperation that's ongoing between the two countries, the peace process, bilateral issues.

I believe the president wanted to make a point that the relationship is very important to him and that he does not subscribe to a lot of the rantings and ravings coming from some of the fringe groups in the U.S. regarding Saudi Arabia as an enemy and so forth.

HEMMER: What about this one, then? Why is it that an administration official would say this meeting is designed to kiss and make up? Why would that be necessary?

AL-JUBEIR: Well, there, from our perspective, there was nothing that required kissing and making up because we never broke up in the first place for us to make up. If there's going to be hugging and kissing, that's fine with us. But it's the, a lot of the criticism that you saw directed at Saudi Arabia did not come from the administration. It came from either anonymous officials -- and god knows who they are -- or it came from people who had an agenda to push. And the president, by doing what he, this gesture today, is making it very clear that this is a relationship that's important to him. It's a relationship that is warm. It's a relationship that is special. And it's a relationship that is important.

HEMMER: Yes, I don't think anyone would disagree with the importance of the relationship. But I think a lot of people want to examine right now the dynamics of the relationship. Let's take them point by point.

Why is Saudi Arabia opposed to a military strike against Iraq?

AL-JUBEIR: We have made our position very clear. We're not the only country. I think there is no other country in the world that supports a military strike at, against Iraq at this time. We agree that Saddam is a threat. We agree that he has to come into compliance with the weapons of mass destruction and with the agreements he made with the United Nations. We agree that we also believe that there is a diplomatic process that's going on and we should pursue that.

We don't believe that the case has been made in terms of a war on, against Iraq, and we don't believe that people have thought through all of the consequences of that.

HEMMER: If that's the case, then -- let me just stop you there -- yesterday the vice president, Dick Cheney, a very strong speech in Tennessee. Part of the speech he talked about the potential for nuclear weapons being pursued by Baghdad. He says it's just a question of time.

If that's the case, why is Saudi Arabia, a dominant player in that region, a country that every Arab country looks up to, for that matter, why is Saudi Arabia willing to wait for that day to arrive as opposed to taking action now?

AL-JUBEIR: Because what we look at is we're saying what is going to happen? What are the steps? For example, there are a number of countries in the world that are threats or could be threats that are acquiring nuclear material -- or trying to acquire nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction. Are we going to go and attack every single one of them?

What we're saying is while we can agree that Saddam is a threat, what exactly will it take to deal with it? How many troops? Who's going to pay for it? Where are they going to land? How many years will they have to occupy Iraq? How do you stabilize the country? Are the Kurds going to seek their own state? Is this going to make the Turks nervous? Is this going to destabilize Iran? Are the Shiite going to seek their own state?

What happens in terms of the reaction of public opinion in the broader Arab and Muslim world towards the United States? Can America sustain a five year campaign in Iraq?

HEMMER: I'm assuming that's part of the message that is being taken to Crawford today, right? AL-JUBEIR: Well, I, I hope, I'm sure that it will be brought up. But it's not so much a message because we've been very clear on this with your government for a long time. We've been saying make the case, make the case legally, do it through the United Nations, do it through multilateralism, just like we did during the first Gulf War.

Our view, we are convinced, is that Saddam will agree to have the inspectors back in, will give them unfettered access and they can proceed to destroy the weapons of mass...

HEMMER: Do you think that's going to happen?

AL-JUBEIR: Well...

HEMMER: Do you think Saddam Hussein will allow weapons inspectors to come back into his country, get full and unfettered access, go wherever they want, inspect whatever they find out there and then make a decision if action should be taken after that? Do you really see that as a scenario right now?

AL-JUBEIR: Bill, we are, I'm not here to defend Saddam Hussein. Quite the contrary. We believe that he's a big threat to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. But what I'm saying is that when confronted with a solid bloc in terms of the international community, when confronted with a strong legal sanction, when confronted with unanimity at the security council, it would be madness for the Iraqis not to allow the inspectors back in and not to give them unfettered access.

The point that we're making is it's as much better to achieve the objective without firing a single bullet or putting the lives of young men and women in uniform in jeopardy than it is to just talk about war.

HEMMER: And many would counter and say it's a question of time and how long can the time pass before you make a decision on that.

Listen, I'm almost out of time.

I want to get to this other report that came out, in fact, about 24 hours ago. Reports, accusations that the Saudi Arabian kingdom has essentially given al Qaeda, given the Taliban upwards of $200 million, some reports say $300 million to stave off any future attacks against Saudi Arabia.

They've been flatly disregarded. The Saudi Arabian kingdom has thrown it out the window, saying there is no truth to it at all.

What can you tell us about those reports? And can you tell us for a fact that Saudi Arabia has never given al Qaeda and the Taliban money in order to appease the people who oppose the regime -- excuse me, the kingdom in Saudi Arabia?

AL-JUBEIR: Absolutely not. Saudi Arabia would -- we can be a lot of things, but we're not foolish. Why would we pay money to people whose objective is to kill us and murder our people? We provided aid to Afghanistan for humanitarian assistance, as have a number of other countries. But to say that Saudi Arabia has given money to the al Qaeda or to the Taliban to stay away from Saudi Arabia is absolute nonsense.

What have they done when they attacked America? They have attacked us with you. They have tried to drive a wedge between us. They have tried to undermine our relationship with the U.S. They have tried to give Saudi Arabia a bad face and they almost succeeded.

They have murdered our own people. They have engaged in operations inside Saudi Arabia. Why would we pay people whose objective is to kill us?

Like I said, we can be a lot of things, but foolish we certainly are not.

HEMMER: Adel Al-Jubeir, come on back, OK?

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you.

HEMMER: A lot to talk about down the road.

AL-JUBEIR: It was a pleasure.

HEMMER: You've got it. We'll see you again.

AL-JUBEIR: Thank you.

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