October 21, 2001	Sunday	Shaba'an 3, 1422

RIYADH, Oct 20: There is concern, anguish and frustration here over Western media attacks on Saudi Arabia. Saudis are alarmed and think it may harm the 50-year strong, strategic ties between the Kingdom and the United States.

Prominent Saudis are worried about a spate of scathing reports about the kingdom in top US publications, saying these may further damage the ties already strained by the US bombing of Afghanistan. One American commentator even suggested that the United States should bomb Saudi Arabia, if it was serious about punishing the supporters of last month’s suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

Analysts say the strategic alliance between the US the world’s largest industrial power, and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer and a key market for many Western export businesses, is already being tested by the military campaign against Afghanistan.

“It is very frustrating because they are very biased and sensational,” a top Saudi lawyer was quoted here today as saying.

Quoting an informed Saudi source, the Jeddah-based daily Saudi Gazette in its Friday issue, denounced the biased American media campaign which accuses the kingdom of overlooking terrorism and of not doing enough to dry up sources financing the terrorists.

“Where are the terrorists we are overlooking?” the source exclaimed, accusing American and Western media of seeking to tarnish the image and reputation of the kingdom, which is not in the interest of America or any other country. It said those who are behind the mobilization of the American and the Western public opinion against the Kingdom want to harm Saudi-American relations.

The US media is not alone in its current campaign against the kingdom, the report asserted, but the European, specially British newspapers and TV channels are also waging it.

The cancellation of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s visit to Saudi Arabia was a joint decision taken by both the parties as it was deemed a necessary stance, the source confirmed. It further added that the kingdom has received assurances from the US that there was no intention of extending military strikes to other countries.

The expansion of war would not help the US policies in its fight against terrorism. On the contrary, it will create new frontlines that would not be in the interest of anybody, he asserted. The kingdom could not have stopped the military operations carried out by America against terrorism, the report lamented.