- DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia
Monday dismissed as lies charges that it financed September 11 hijackers,
and some newspapers said the allegations were a desperate attempt by U.S.
hawks to get Saudi support for a possible war against Iraq.
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- The U.S. Congress has launched an inquiry into a possible
money trail from the Saudi government to two of the 19 hijackers who crashed
jets into U.S. cities, threatening to put a further strain on already sour
ties between the two allies.
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- "These are nothing but lies and baseless words,"
Interior Minister Prince Nayef said in comments carried by the official
Saudi Press Agency.
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- He said it was normal for Saudis to offer financial support
to fellow nationals living abroad. "If they are going to make an accusation
of every assistance extended by one Saudi to another, then there is a problem
and this should not be the case."
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- A slew of anti-Saudi comments in the United States, after
15 Saudis were named among the hijackers, and Washington's perceived pro-Israel
bias have raised Saudi ire and sparked rare calls in the kingdom to review
ties with its key Western ally.
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- Some U.S. politicians have called for similar action
by Washington, particularly after a report for the Defense Department called
the kingdom an enemy and funder of terrorism.
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- "Under the current strategy to hit Iraq, suspicions
and accusations are being used by American foxes to...pressure the kingdom
to directly enter a war," the popular daily al-Riyadh said in an editorial.
"Despite our commitment to being a friend to America, we refuse to
be blackmailed," it said.
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- Saudi newspapers usually reflect government thinking.
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- Riyadh has publicly opposed military action against Iraq
and has yet to decide whether to let Washington use its facilities in a
possible attack to rid Baghdad of alleged weapons of mass destruction.
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- POLITICAL BLACKMAIL
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- "The campaign is a political one which clearly aims
to blackmail Saudi Arabia, distort its reputation and try to influence
its positions and turn others against it," said an editorial in the
daily al-Watan.
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- "The latest campaign by the Zionist lobby in America
will fail and will not affect the kingdom or its stances and will not affect
the strength of ties with the United States," it added.
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- The charges, first published by Newsweek magazine, are
that Saudi money reached the hijackers, possibly via two Saudi students
living in the United States who had obtained it from an account in the
name of Princess Haifa al-Faisal, the wife of the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
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- Adel al-Jubeir, an aide to the kingdom's de facto ruler
Crown Prince Abdullah, said there was no evidence the Saudi government
sent money to the hijackers and that his country was mercilessly pursuing
al Qaeda, which is blamed for the attacks.
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- He told CNN the Saudis had thought the money trail issue
was closed, and its revival by the U.S. Congress "leads me to believe
that the people who are behind this are more interested in scoring political
brownie points than arriving at the truth."
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- Al-Nadwa newspaper said the allegations were part of
a ploy by the "Zionist lobby" to harm relations between the United
States and Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.
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- The daily al-Riyadh said the campaign was the first step
toward "severing ties with Muslims and waging a long war which places
the two sides in a cycle of confrontation which does not benefit anybody."
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