U.S. Disavows Report on Saudis

The Bush administration distanced itself Tuesday from a Pentagon briefing that described Saudi Arabia as an adversary of the United States and a backer of terrorism, with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld saying the briefing doesn’t represent the views of the U.S. government and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell repeating that message in a call to the Saudi foreign minister.

The White House also distanced itself from the comments, and in Jidda, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal denounced the briefing as “pure fiction.”

The briefing to the Defense Policy Board, a Pentagon advisory panel made up of former senior officials and retired top military officers, recommended that U.S. officials demand that Saudi Arabia stop supporting terrorism or face retaliation.

“The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain,” asserted the briefing, which was delivered July 10 by Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corp. international security analyst. It also said, “Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies.”

The briefing recommended that the United States target Saudi oil fields and financial assets if the Mideast nation didn’t take certain actions against terrorism.

“It is unfortunate that there are people in some quarters who are trying to cast doubt and undermine the solid and historic ties between our two countries,” Saud said in a statement. “I am confident that they will not succeed.”

“Saudi Arabia is a long-standing friend and a long-standing ally,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. “We very much appreciate the way they are cooperating in the global war against terrorism.”

Rumsfeld did acknowledge differences with the Saudis.

“It is nonetheless a country where we have a lot of forces located and we have a had a long relationship, and yet ... a number of the people who were involved [in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks] happen to have been Saudi individuals,” Rumsfeld told Pentagon employees.

U.S. lawmakers are among those who have complained that Saudi Arabia hasn’t done enough to rein in support for the Al Qaeda terrorist network, discourage suicide bombings by Palestinians or support U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

Saudis say the U.S. does not do enough to pressure Israel to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians.