DUBAI: Claims that resurfaced in a US Congress report of a Saudi role in the September 11 attacks are unlikely to affect relations which have improved since Riyadh got serious over cooperation in the war on terror, analysts say.
The report made public on Thursday raised suspicions but reached no definite conclusion about whether Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi who knew two of the September 11 hijackers while living in San Diego, was connected to the Saudi government.
The September 11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudi nationals, frayed a decades-old alliance based on interlocking oil and defence interests.
Some right-wing US officials and commentators accused Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Osama bin Laden whose Al Qaeda network carried out the attacks, of being soft on terrorism.
The report threatened to tarnish improved relations since Riyadh cracked down on militants after suicide bombs in Riyadh in May killed 35 people, including nine Americans.
The Saudi ambassador denied that his country had failed to cooperate in fighting terrorism and dismissed accusations that it helped finance two of the hijackers as old news and untrue.
A Western diplomat in Riyadh said Saudi authorities were angry over the report, but minimal coverage in the Saudi media showed Riyadh did not want to stoke more anti-US feeling.
“The feeling here is that cooperation started after the May 12 attacks and they changed laws on financial regulations, so they think that now they are a good partner in the anti-terror campaign,” the diplomat said.
He said Washington also seemed keen to limit the fall-out from the report, which had been in the works for months.
The New York Times said a 28-page deleted section of the report says senior Saudi officials funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable groups and other organizations that may have helped finance the attacks.
Since September 11, Saudi Arabia has taken steps to control groups which may have been channelling money to militants.
“Since the May 12 bombings in Saudi Arabia, our cooperation has been increasingly effective and mutually beneficial,” a US State Department official said. “The high level of cooperation ranges from intelligence to law enforcement, financing, military support and humanitarian assistance.”
ANTI-SAUDI SENTIMENT: A Saudi official saw domestic electoral concerns in the report. “Most of the comments are from Democrats running for elections and we’re an easy target for them,” he said.
Arab commentators have suggested pro-Israeli groups in the United States will use the report to maintain a focus on Saudi links to militants in an effort to persuade Washington to pressure Riyadh to make peace soon with Israel.
“Israel and its supporters resorted to using the media to promote the accusation that Saudi Arabia had a role in the September 11 attacks,” Egyptian daily al-Akhbar said on Sunday. “Their aim is to exert pressure via Washington to stop Riyadh continuing its material support for the Palestinians and to push it to change its policy on Israel,” the paper said.
One US administration official, who asked not to be named, said there was a strong anti-Saudi sentiment in sections of Congress, the press and some think tanks.
Saudi analyst Jamal Khashoggi said the Bush administration had “moved on” to focusing on reform in Saudi Arabia and ending the huge influence of clerics in Saudi public life, which is seen as encouraging Saudis to support Al Qaeda.
“The Saudis are as serious as the Americans about excising terrorism. The sticky issue is reform in Saudi Arabia and implementing diversity of religion and ending the exclusivity of Wahhabism,” he said.
But Saudi dissident Mohammed al-Masari said Washington was making a mistake by covering up for alleged Saudi funding of militancy and that it must push for democracy in a country where royal power is almost absolute. “The administration is covering up. They will keep talking about reform and women’s issues and so on, but business interests will dominate,” he said, adding that unaccountable parts of the family would continue to back anti-US activities. —Reuters
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