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American Morning

Interview With Adel al Jubeir

Aired November 25, 2002 - 07:46   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get that report now that says a money trail might lead indirectly from the Saudi royal family to associates of two of the hijackers.
Now, officials from Saudi Arabia say they're checking records to see how it may have happened, but they say it is -- quote -- "Crazy to suggest that the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington supported the hijackers intentionally."

To Riyadh, Saudi Arabia right now, Adel al Jubeir, foreign policy advisor to Saudi Arabia, normally works in Washington, D.C. We pick him up from half a world away.

We say hello again to you, sir. And I heard you all day yesterday say, once again, there is no conclusive link to say that the princess knew where this money was going.

My question today, though, as we move forward: What is Saudi Arabia doing right now in terms of its cooperation with the U.S. government to prevent this happening either today...

ADEL AL JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR: We are -- we have...

HEMMER: ... or in the future, sir?

AL JUBEIR: Well, Bill, I think a lot of what we've done people are not aware of or they choose to ignore. We do have an official welfare system. To say that we don't have one is not correct. We provide no-interest mortgages to our citizens. We provide universal health care. We provide universal education. We have a department that's similar to your Department of Health and Human Services. So, with all due respect to the people who say we don't have one, it's not true.

What we also have is culturally, people feel they can approach their leaders directly. And so, they go to the king and the crown prince and they go to the governors and they express their grievances, their concerns, or they ask for support. And in our tradition, the Bedouin tradition of Arabia, if you do not offer somebody hospitality, if you do not offer them shelter and if you don't offer them assistance, you are a nobody. It's shameful to be stingy. And so, people tend to be generous.

HEMMER: Well, I can understand...

AL JUBEIR: Over the years, we realize (ph) some people have taken advantage...

HEMMER: ... and we have a bit of a satellite delay here, and I apologize about walking all over your answer here. I understand the benevolence. I respect that fully.

AL JUBEIR: That's OK.

HEMMER: But what are you doing, again, to address the issue to make sure you know who the people are who are receiving money?

AL JUBEIR: Yes. I was just getting to that, Bill. What we have done is we have regulated our charities. We are going through the process of auditing every single one of them. We are -- we have put in place requirements that the charities perform internal audits, because we want to make sure that the donors know how the charities are spending their money.

We also want to teach the charities how to have -- how to enforce financial control mechanisms, so that people do not take advantage of the laxness that may exist somewhere.

We have also looked at how money is transferred out of Saudi Arabia to ensure that no money can be transferred unless there is an audit trail. We are working with Saudi individuals, are trying to help them identify where their funds should go.

And frankly, Bill, we have realized over the years that people have now taken advantage of our charity, of our generosity, of our naivety, if you want to call it that, of our innocence. But those days are coming to an end.

I believe most Saudi donors are now aware that they need to be more diligent in how they give money and who they give money to, and they need to be very careful about just writing checks or giving cash to people.

HEMMER: Just about every U.S. senator throughout the day on Sunday said that this possibility is not out of the realm of possibilities, almost suggesting as if once they heard this story, they indeed accepted it as fact. What does that suggest, then, how the Saudi Arabian kingdom has dealt with extreme measures of your society for the past several decades running?


Aired November 25, 2002 - 07:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get that report now that says a money trail might lead indirectly from the Saudi royal family to associates of two of the hijackers.
Now, officials from Saudi Arabia say they're checking records to see how it may have happened, but they say it is -- quote -- "Crazy to suggest that the wife of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington supported the hijackers intentionally."

To Riyadh, Saudi Arabia right now, Adel al Jubeir, foreign policy advisor to Saudi Arabia, normally works in Washington, D.C. We pick him up from half a world away.

We say hello again to you, sir. And I heard you all day yesterday say, once again, there is no conclusive link to say that the princess knew where this money was going.

My question today, though, as we move forward: What is Saudi Arabia doing right now in terms of its cooperation with the U.S. government to prevent this happening either today...

ADEL AL JUBEIR, SAUDI FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR: We are -- we have...

HEMMER: ... or in the future, sir?

AL JUBEIR: Well, Bill, I think a lot of what we've done people are not aware of or they choose to ignore. We do have an official welfare system. To say that we don't have one is not correct. We provide no-interest mortgages to our citizens. We provide universal health care. We provide universal education. We have a department that's similar to your Department of Health and Human Services. So, with all due respect to the people who say we don't have one, it's not true.

What we also have is culturally, people feel they can approach their leaders directly. And so, they go to the king and the crown prince and they go to the governors and they express their grievances, their concerns, or they ask for support. And in our tradition, the Bedouin tradition of Arabia, if you do not offer somebody hospitality, if you do not offer them shelter and if you don't offer them assistance, you are a nobody. It's shameful to be stingy. And so, people tend to be generous.

HEMMER: Well, I can understand...

AL JUBEIR: Over the years, we realize (ph) some people have taken advantage...

HEMMER: ... and we have a bit of a satellite delay here, and I apologize about walking all over your answer here. I understand the benevolence. I respect that fully.

AL JUBEIR: That's OK.

HEMMER: But what are you doing, again, to address the issue to make sure you know who the people are who are receiving money?

AL JUBEIR: Yes. I was just getting to that, Bill. What we have done is we have regulated our charities. We are going through the process of auditing every single one of them. We are -- we have put in place requirements that the charities perform internal audits, because we want to make sure that the donors know how the charities are spending their money.

We also want to teach the charities how to have -- how to enforce financial control mechanisms, so that people do not take advantage of the laxness that may exist somewhere.

We have also looked at how money is transferred out of Saudi Arabia to ensure that no money can be transferred unless there is an audit trail. We are working with Saudi individuals, are trying to help them identify where their funds should go.

And frankly, Bill, we have realized over the years that people have now taken advantage of our charity, of our generosity, of our naivety, if you want to call it that, of our innocence. But those days are coming to an end.

I believe most Saudi donors are now aware that they need to be more diligent in how they give money and who they give money to, and they need to be very careful about just writing checks or giving cash to people.

HEMMER: Just about every U.S. senator throughout the day on Sunday said that this possibility is not out of the realm of possibilities, almost suggesting as if once they heard this story, they indeed accepted it as fact. What does that suggest, then, how the Saudi Arabian kingdom has dealt with extreme measures of your society for the past several decades running?