INTERVIEW WITH WITH ADEL AL-JUBEIR
Foreign Policy Advisor to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz

SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTRY

August 11, 2002

Excerpts

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MS. MITCHELL: Well, let's talk about another big point of...

MR. AL-JUBEIR: Yes.

MS. MITCHELL: ...contention between your government and ours, and that is Iraq. The president said this weekend that Saddam Hussein is an enemy until proven otherwise. Do you agree?

MR. AL-JUBEIR: Well, he invaded Kuwait. He agreed to U.N. resolutions. He violated the terms of those resolutions. He violated the terms of agreements that he signed in terms of weapons of mass destruction.

MS. MITCHELL: But if that is the case, then why did Prince Saud al Faisal say this week - and let me show you the graphic - that: "Saudi Arabia has made clear to Washington - publicly and privately - that the U.S. military will not be allowed to use the kingdom's soil in any way for an attack on Iraq, Foreign Minister Prince Saud said Wednesday. "We have told them we don't (want) them to use Saudi grounds' for any attack on Iraq, he said."

MR. AL-JUBEIR: Because our view with regards to Iraq is that, it's an arms control issue. We should negotiate to put the inspectors back into Iraq, so they can dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, if they have any, and if they don't have any, give them a clean bill of health. We believe...

MS. MITCHELL: Kofi Annan says that the inspections offer from Saddam Hussein has too many strings attached. It is not a clear-cut offer yet.

MR. AL-JUBEIR: So we should keep working on the offer and we should make it clear-cut and we should make it acceptable. But we believe that this rhetoric about going to war is overblown, and we believe that trying to push America or the world into war with Iraq is counterproductive, would have grave consequences for American interests in the region, as well as the interests of your friends and allies. And I think it's not surprising that there is no country in the world that I know of that has publicly supported the U.S. on this issue.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, let's take a look at what Vice President Cheney had to say about sending weapons inspectors back into Iraq:

(Videotape, August 7, 2002): 

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Even if you had the return of inspectors, I'm not sure they would be able to do enough to be able to guarantee us and our friends in the region that he had, in fact, complied. He's gotten very good at denial and deception.

(End videotape)

MS. MITCHELL: Isn't that too much of a risk? And if we can't count on you, Saudi Arabia, our closest ally, to help us when and if the time comes to attack Iraq, whom can we count on?

MR. AL-JUBEIR: Well, we have said all along that this is an arms control issue. The inspectors have to come back. Saddam has to comply with the U.N. resolutions, and if he doesn't comply, we'll consult with the international community and with the United Nations and we'll see what the next steps are. We should go through a process. We haven't even begun this process.

MS. MITCHELL: So there's still a possibility that Saudi Arabia would permit U.S. basing...

MR. AL-JUBEIR: I think...

MS. MITCHELL: .. in Saudi Arabia if we have exhausted the diplomatic remedies?

MR. AL-JUBEIR: Let's go through the remedies. Let's go exhaust the remedies. Let's get legal sanctions. Let's see what happens. We feel fairly confident that the Iraqis will go along with allowing the inspectors back in and then the objective will have been achieved without the use of force.

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