December 5, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 29,1423

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WASHINGTON, Dec 4: Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it had been unfairly maligned in the United States where the media and unnamed government officials have launched a “Saudi bashing campaign,” ignoring the kingdom’s contribution to the war against terrorism.

“We believe that our country has been unfairly maligned,” Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told a news briefing at the Saudi Embassy.

“The atmosphere in the United States, unfortunately, is ‘it’s a feeding frenzy,’ it’s ‘let’s bash the Saudis,’ he added. “We are guilty before we say anything. We are guilty as charged. Nobody looks at the evidence.”

Al-Jubeir also announced a number of legal and regulatory measures to control charity funds, some of which are alleged to have found the way to terrorist outfits. The move aims to correct what he called misconceptions about Saudi cooperation in the worldwide attempt to choke the flow of funds to groups such as al Qaeda.

In a separate statement, the US State Department said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia and the United States had also set up a joint committee to minimize the possibility of the terrorists misusing charity funds. The committee, which will be headed by a senior State Department official, meets in Washington in January.

“For too long, Saudi Arabia has been wrongly accused of being uncooperative or ineffective in combating terrorism,” said Al Jubeir. “The unfounded charges against Saudi Arabia have gotten out of control. It is now incumbent on us to more openly articulate our anti-terrorism policies and actions.”

Last week, it was reported that money from Princess Haifa al Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to Washington and daughter of the late King Faisal, may have indirectly benefited two of the 19 terrorists who last year crashed hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Saudi authorities denied the princess knowingly sent funds to hijackers Khalif al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi. Ties between the two nations have soured since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

Al Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had established a separate committee to monitor money laundering. Every bank will now have a money-laundering unit to ensure that “dirty money” does not pass through the Saudi banks.