Giuliani Refuses Saudi’s Check

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani refused to accept a $10-million check Thursday from a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd for a World Trade Center relief fund after the prince urged the U.S. government to “adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.”

Prince Al Waleed ibn Talal ibn Abdulaziz al Saud toured the ruins with the mayor. But he later issued a written statement that angered Giuliani.

“Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of the Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,” Al Waleed said. “At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to the criminal attack.”

The prince, a major investor in U.S. corporations and the world’s sixth-wealthiest person with assets of $20 billion, according to Forbes magazine, offered condolences to New York. He condemned terrorism.

“We are here to tell America and to tell New York that Saudi Arabia is with the United States wholeheartedly,” he said.

Later, at a City Hall news conference, Giuliani quickly rejected any rationale for the attack.

“There is no justification for it,” the mayor said. “The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people.

“To suggest there’s a justification for it only invites it happening in the future,” he added.

Sunny Mindell, the mayor’s director of communications, said: “We are not accepting this check.”

Asked whether the Bush administration was informed before the money was sent back, she replied: “Both State and the White House have been notified.”

The incident occurred while the White House is trying to gain a greater measure of support from Saudi Arabia as the United States wages war in Afghanistan.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman declined to comment on Giuliani’s action. But he noted: “We talk to the Saudis as a close friend and ally about the Middle East all the time and will continue working with them.”

In New York, and in Washington, where 189 people were killed at the Pentagon, memorials were held Thursday on the one-month anniversary of the worst case of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history.

On Sept. 11, two hijacked airliners smashed into the World Trade Center and a third hit the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers struggled with the terrorists.

Flanked by rescue workers, Giuliani stood amid the still-smoldering ruins of the twin towers and pledged, “We will not allow the terrorists in any way to affect our spirit.

“They attempted to break our spirit. Instead, they emboldened it,” the mayor said after workers paused for a minute of silence.

Latest figures show 5,160 people were killed in the collapse of the towers.

In Washington, family members, wearing stickers over their hearts that bore the names of loved ones lost in the attack, walked hand in hand to the memorial service on the Pentagon’s parade field.

“On Sept. 11, great sorrow came to our country,” President Bush told the crowd. “And from that sorrow has come great resolve. Today, we are a nation awakened to the evil of terrorism, and determined to destroy it. That work began the moment we were attacked, and it will continue until justice is delivered.”

The president offered the nation’s condolences to those who lost family members.

“One death can leave sorrow that seems almost unbearable,” he said. “But to you who lost someone here, I want to say: You are not alone. The American people will never forget the cruelty that was done here and in New York and in the sky over Pennsylvania.”

“We will never forget all the innocent people killed by the hatred of the few,” he said. “The entire nation shares in your sadness. And we pray for you and your loved ones. And we will always honor their memory.”

Bush said the Pentagon would be rebuilt quickly “brick by brick.”

“In the missions ahead for the military,” the president said to applause, “you will have everything you need, every resource, every weapon, every means to assure full victory for the United States and the cause of freedom.

“The hijackers were instruments of evil who died in vain,” Bush told the crowd of 20,000 people. “Behind them is a cult of evil which seeks to harm the innocent and thrives on human suffering.”

Many in the audience waved small American flags as they sang the “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

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Goldman reported from New York, Schultz from Washington. Times staff reporter Norman Kempster also contributed to this report.