November 10, 2006

PRINCE KHALID BIN SULTAN CHAIRS THE MEETING OF THE STRATEGIC JOINT PLANNING COMMITTEE (JPC) IN WASHINGTON. CHENEY AND RUMSFELD RECEIVE PRINCE KHALID AND PRAISE THE DEPTH OF SAUDI-US RELATIONS. PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL AT THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON US-ARAB RELATIONS' 15TH ANNUAL ARAB-US POLICYMAKERS' CONFERENCE: THE KINGDOM HAS TAKEN STEPS TO MAINTAIN STABILITY IN THE WORLD ENERGY MARKET. PRINCE TURKI CALLS ON THE US TO PUSH ISRAEL TO ENGAGE IN THE PEACE PROCESS. US-SAUDI COMMITTEES TO FACILITATE ISSUING VISAS FOR SAUDI INVESTORS IN VIRGINIA. Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs Prince Khalid Bin Sultan chaired a meeting of the Strategic Joint Planning Committee (JPC) at the Pentagon in Washington. The JPC aims to enhance interaction between the Saudi and the US militaries and to support the Kingdom's efforts to upgrade its military capabilities. The meeting was attended by the head of the American training mission in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi military attaché in the US. Prince Khalid met with Vice President Dick Cheney for discussions on various issues of mutual interest. The US Vice-President Dick Cheney received Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Assistant Defense and Aviation Minister for Military Affairs. Prince Khalid conveyed to Cheney the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General. Speaking on the occasion, Cheney highlighted the existing friendly relations between the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the US. Cheney exchanged views with Prince Khalid on issues of mutual interest. In the evening, Prince Khalid attended a reception held in his honor by the US Department of Defense. The prince was welcomed by a number of senior defense officials. Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs, arrived in Washington for a visit. He was welcomed by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, The Saudi Ambassador to the US, other princes and senior officials. The Saudi Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz headed the Saudi delegation at the joint meeting of the strategic planning committee which concluded its deliberations at pentagon. Prince Khalid Bin Sultan, then, met US Secretary of State for Naval Affairs Donald Winter. During the meeting, they exchanged cordial talks and discussed issues of mutual interest. Also, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan met US Air Force Chief of Staff General Ted Moseley. During the meeting, they exchanged cordial talks and discussed issues of mutual interest. Later, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan met US Secretary Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who welcomed him and his accompanying delegation and wished the prince "good stay." Rumsfeld asserted the strong relations between USA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He also asked Prince Khalid Bin Sultan to convey the greetings of the US President to Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation And Inspector General, whishing him good health and continuous progress and prosperity for the Saudi people. On his part, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan expressed his thanks for the generous hospitality and reception. He also conveyed him the greeting of Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General. Later, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan met US Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Edmund Giambastiani. During the meeting, they exchanged cordial talks and discussed issues of mutual interest. Later, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan visited the Saudi military attaché in USA, Colonel Ali Bin Saleh Al-Rakaf. He was received there by a number of officials. The Saudi Military Attache delivered a speech in which he welcomed the prince and his accompanying delegation and noted the continuous support and follow up made by Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation And Inspector General and his assistant for military affairs. Then, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan delivered a speech in which he expressed his happiness to be with them. "The directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General were to develop the ministry of defence and to overcome all shortcomings. Therefore, committees were formed to develop the abilities of the ministry of defense in all sectors," Prince Khalid Bin Sultan said. Then, the Saudi military attaché in the USA presented a memorial gift to Prince Khalid Bin Sultan on this occasion. He also listened to a briefing on the Saudi military attaché office in the US. The Saudi embassy in Washington hosted a dinner party for Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs, and the accompanying delegation. On arrival at the venue of the party, he was received by Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to the US, and a number of senior officials. The dinner party was attended by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and a number of senior civil and military officials. Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs, left Washington at the conclusion of an official visit to the United States. Upon departure from Andrews airbase, he was seen off by high ranking officials. On the other hand Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Turki Al-Faisal delivered the keynote address at the National Council on US-Arab Relations' 15th annual Arab-US Policymakers' Conference in Washington. In his remarks, Prince Turki discussed Saudi Arabian constitutional evolution in light of the Allegiance Institution, which the Kingdom established recently in order to formalize the royal succession. The Institution will consist of a committee of princes that will vote on the appointment of future Saudi kings and crown princes. The formation of the Allegiance Institution is significant because it is an amendment to Saudi Arabia's Basic Law of Governance and because it illustrates the principles that have guided the Kingdom since its formation, Prince Turki said. In addition, it is an evolution of the traditional Arab role of consultation in determining succession that dates back to the Caliph Omar. "It is clear and transparent, and it includes procedures in case of the incapacitation of the ruler and his successor. It also allows for the ruler's choice of successor to be rejected by the Council and for the Council's choice to be chosen, even if the ruler does not agree. Casting the ballot is an essential component of the election process," Prince Turki said of the new law. "This, truly, is a remarkable reform of what has been the traditional way of deciding the succession." Prince Turki noted that Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution has emphasized the importance of consultation, including the establishment of the Consultative Council in 1924 and the establishment of the Basic Law in 1992. "Saudi Arabia has been progressing towards its own form of representative institutions. We have not reached the end of that path, but we have embarked on it with steadfastness and determination," Prince Turki said. "Most importantly, Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution is homegrown and consistent with the traditions of its people and the tenets of Islam." Prince Turki also took questions on a number of topics, including Saudi-US relations, Iraq, the Kingdom's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Middle East peace process, and reforms in the Kingdom. Following are exerts of the keynote address Prince Turki Al-Faisal who said that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, announced the establishment of the Bay'ah Council, which is to formalize the succession process. To call it the Allegiance Council, as I've seen now in currency, is a misnomer because allegiance is one-sided and connotes total obedience. The Bay'ah is actually a compact, and it is a contract between the ruler and the ruled whereby the ruler obliges himself to protect, promote, and enhance the lives and property of the ruled; and the ruled, in return, oblige themselves to protect, promote, and obey the ruler on everything but that which counters the teachings of God. The announcement is significant both because it is an important amendment to the Basic Law of Governance and because it is illustrative of the principles which have guided Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution ever since King Abdulaziz brought together what was to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. The Quran, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, calls upon us to "take all our decisions through consultation." The first act of Shurah, consultation in Islam, took place at the deathbed of the second Khalifah to the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, 1,400 years ago. Omar the Khalifah called upon six of the Prophet's Companions to choose who his successor will be. Since then, this became the way in which Arab societies have chosen their leaders, in one form or another; most times paying lip service to the Shurah, and many times the process was even whimsical and even without Shurah. But none of us can claim to have come close to the perfect form of government. But the Bay'ah Council is a straightforward evolution of what the Khalifah Omar did. It is clear and transparent, and it includes procedures in case of the incapacitation of the ruler and his successor. It also allows for the ruler's choice of successor to be rejected by the Council and for the Council's choice to be chosen, even if the ruler does not agree. Casting the ballot is an essential component of the election process. This, ladies and gentlemen, is truly a remarkable reform of what has been the traditional way of deciding the succession. In Saudi Arabia, the most important tradition has always been to follow the Quranic call of reaching decisions through consultation, while also maintaining a direct and universal link between our leaders and our people. For hundreds of years, the people of the Arabian Peninsula have had the opportunity to express their hopes and grievances to their leaders during the Majlis held by each one of these leaders. While it has become a more complex task in modem times, we have come up with new ways to respect this tradition, be it through the Majlis or local governors or the new municipal councils. Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution began when King Abdulaziz united the country, entered Makkah, where there was established a Consultative Council, or Council of Representatives in 1924. The name, shape and role of this Council evolved over time but its primary function was to act as a focus for advice and consultation to the King in reaching his decisions. Although King Abdulaziz was busy establishing a state and uniting its people, he assigned a great deal of importance to the setting up of this Council and thereby learned a great deal about the people of the Hijaz and the other parts of the Kingdom and their aspirations. The Council evolved somewhat more slowly over the following decades, as the Arab world as a whole suffered from the convulsions caused by the creation of new states and boundaries under colonialism and dispersion. The interwar period was not a bright period in the history of the Middle East, yet Saudi Arabia pursued its establishment of the institutions of a modem state. King Abdulaziz was known for his Shu'ba as-Siyassia, or the political department, composed of learned men from all around the Arab world, which met on a daily basis to review Saudi and international events. The King benefited greatly in his decisions from the varying and often opposing opinions that were expressed freely in this gathering. But arriving at current times, the late King Fahd reorganized the way in which the Kingdom was governed and established a new set of regulations through the Basic Law of 1992. These changes further underline the importance of consultation in Islam. At the center of the Basic Law stood arrangements for regional government and a re-founded the Consultative Council, a milestone in the constitutional evolution of Saudi Arabia. More recently, the establishment of municipal councils, half of whose members are directly elected, has again reaffirmed the importance of consultation and participation in Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution. Consultation allows for the expression of many different views, not in the form of a duel but to discuss issues robustly and transparently for the benefit of the country. It provides a forum for new ideas and serves the King by suggesting what steps are more important for the country. I recall the history of this evolution in order to show that Saudi Arabia has followed a clear path in its constitutional evolution, establishing a state with modem institutions that is in tune both with the basic instructions of Islam and with the traditions of our people. Saudi Arabia has been progressing towards its own form of representative institutions. We have not reached the end of the road or the end of the path, but we have embarked on it with steadfastness and determination. More importantly, Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution is homegrown and consistent with the traditions of its people and the tenets of Islam. Our institutions and system of government were not created in a vacuum, nor were they imposed from the outside. They have come about by experience, by consultation and by a feeling for the participatory form of government which is in the interest of the Saudi people. Essentially, ladies and gentlemen, we have chosen this progressive evolution because we believe it fits the needs and aspirations of our people. We are not in a hurry to experiment with foreign interpretations of democracy or methods of government. Saudi Arabia's own form of representative government will be fed, vitalized and grown through our assessment of what will best serve Saudi Arabia and its people. We will make mistakes along the way, and we can be sure of that, but they will be our mistakes, not someone else's. And we will invest all our energy in assessing our evolution and making the necessary adjustments when we see that we went wrong somewhere. Therein lies the power of consultation and of having a constant awareness of people's needs and aspirations. It allows for constant and healthy assessments of the cumulative effects of changes and decisions, and steady improvements in the interest of our people. Many of you will be interested in knowing how the constitutional evolution, which I have spoken about, affects women's rights in the Kingdom. The role of women in Saudi Arabian society is still very different from that which many of you are familiar with, but women have been an integral part of the evolution of Saudi Arabia, particularly in its social aspect. If you remember, five years ago Saudi Arabia launched a National Dialogue in which women were asked to participate and to define their aspirations and ideas on change and reform in the Kingdom. Their recommendations form an increasing part of Saudi Arabia's constitutional evolution and we are ensuring that women's participation becomes more visible and more substantive, as evidenced in the election of women to the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and to the board of the Engineers Association. I hope that I have succeeded in giving you a clearer idea of where Saudi Arabia stands in its constitutional evolution and in constantly adapting its institutions according to the principles which have established their strength and effectiveness. The changes that we will see over the coming years will be exciting for the prospects of Saudi Arabia and its people, and they will continue to respect our traditions and aspirations. Saudi Arabia has moved well along the road of defining itself as a state that is both modem and in tune with its traditions, continually pushing forward in its constitutional and participatory evolution. On the successes that Saudi Arabia has registered in its domestic campaign against violent extremists in the past year, Prince Turki said That the principal reason that these successes have taken place is because the people of Saudi Arabia have participated in eliminating these extremist individuals and their ideology. There has been an interchange between the citizens and the security forces that is healthy and very beneficial for both. During the last three years since the terrorist attacks in 2003, more terrorist activity has been prevented because of citizens informing on potential such acts to the security forces than any other reason. And it is this engagement with the people that has really meant the success of the program that we have engaged in. The other thing also is the leadership that King Abdullah and Prince Sultan and the government has taken in highlighting the wrongness of the ideology that is espoused by these extremists and these terrorists. And along with the religious leadership in the Kingdom, particularly Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Asheikh, who is the mufti of Saudi Arabia and other religious leaders in condemning and casting as sinful the terrorist acts and activities. This has elicited from the citizenry the kind of cooperation and opposition to the philosophy as well as the acts of the terrorists. One aspect that is not much talked about in our dealing with terrorism in Saudi Arabia is what happens when such extremists or terrorists are captured and brought to justice in Saudi Arabia. Those who have not committed crimes in terms of killing and capital crimes are immediately engaged in a process that is based on reconnecting them with their families because Al-Qaeda and groups like Al-Qaeda act as cults, and the first thing they do when they recruit someone is they cut him off from his family, and then from his society and turn them into a brotherhood, if you like, or a sisterhood that believes in a philosophy and a cult leadership. So the first act that the government does when it captures somebody and puts them in jail is to reconnect them with their families, and after a period of realignment with their parents or with their siblings or with other members of the family. They are then put through a psychiatric program to evaluate their psychological and psychiatric condition for a few months, after which, having gone through that rehabilitation process, they are brought into connection with the religious scholars who challenge their ideology on a religious basis and show them that their views and interpretations of Islam are not only wrong but that there are alternatives to them which they may not have known about and which are there for them to take up. And so far, out of a number of 700 of these prisoners who have been captured over the last three years who've had connections one way or another with the extremist groups in the Kingdom, 400 of them have deemed rehabilitated and have been released from prison in the care of their families, but also the government keeps an eye on them to make sure that they don't slide back to their wrong ways. And over the past year, those who have lived through that program have prospered and continued to engage with their families and with the rest of the society without anybody falling back to their bad ways. On the Middle East peace plan Prince Turki said the United States, in its Roadmap, has given a way to achieve peace and the establishment of a two-state solution. Couple that with the Abdullah Peace Plan of 2002 and you will get an end view to that process, which is two states, based on the '67 borders, with Israel withdrawing from all Arab territories, including Jerusalem, in return for total Arab countries' recognition of Israel and normalization of relations. And the only thing lacking in all of these things is that nobody has put their foot forward, and we have to be clear in our views on this issue. The United States is the only country that can do the right thing for everybody in the Middle East, not only because of the size and strength of the United States, but because the United States is engaged and enmeshed in our political situation and has been for the last 50 years or so, whether it likes it or not. And I don't think it's a matter of liking or not that should decide this year, but where are the basic interests of the United States? The basic interests are for peace to reign in our part of the world so that we can turn to more fruitful endeavors and more contributive engagements with each other. And even those among the United States, friends of Israel, we want you to remain friends with Israel. We have no objection to that, nor do we have any inhibitions about that. But that friendship should be used to push Israel to engage in the peace process and to allow the Palestinians the same kind of rights which are inalienable to all people in the world, and those are the rights for homeland and the state and the nationality which has been denied the Palestinians for the last 50 years. It is that simple, and I think those who try to complicate it and try to say that perhaps this is not the right time to do something about that because the Olmert government is weak or because Mahmoud Abbas doesn't have full control over the Palestinian Authority or the government, or because of this and that. These excuses will continue with us, and we have heard them for the last 50 years. Implementation should be done now. The United States devised the Roadmap; it needs to implement it. And we in the Kingdom will do whatever we can to support whatever the United States does in that process. A friend of mine, the Palestinian ambassador in your country, is sitting right here. And he has a wonderful thing that he said a few weeks ago when he as asked about the nonaligned movement in the world today. He said and I'm paraphrasing what he said that today there is no need for a nonaligned movement because there is only one power. It's a unipolar world. What we need today is for that power to be nonaligned. And that is such a true statement and that is coming from a Palestinian, one who has suffered the expulsion from his home and went through all of the difficulties that have come about. But the U.S.'s responsibility is primary in this, and King Abdullah, many times, has engaged with President Bush to push forward the need for an immediate implementation of the Roadmap. On Iraq the Prince aid that Iraq is an issue of primary concern to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and I've continued to say since I've come here that since America came into Iraq uninvited, it should not leave Iraq uninvited. And by that I mean that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government should engage with the United States in how and where and the wherewithal of the kind of relationship they will have with each other when American forces withdraw from Iraq. We have never held back on any ideas as far not just Iraq but any issue of concern to us in the area with our American counterparts. On the issue of Iraq, before, during and after the military invasion took place, we shared our views with your officials clearly and above board and publicly because we don't think there is anything to hide here. It is a vital interest to you as well as to us that Iraq remains a unified country. Those who call for a partition of Iraq are calling for a three-fold increase in the problems rather than a unified Iraq provides for all of us. And although I heard earlier from my good friend and colleague in terms of a study on Iraq that he made Mr. Nawaf Obaid - on the inevitability, in his view, of the partition of Iraq, or the civil war some of you will say erupting and others will say that it is already there in Iraq. My view on that issue is that it is practically impossible for Iraq to be divided on sectarian lines, or even on ethnic lines. There is just too much intermingling of Iraqis with each other in every part of Iraq. We see now, within the Shi'a community in Iraq, those who promote regional autonomy and those who opposed regional autonomy. Why? Because those who oppose regional autonomy live in a mostly majority non-Shi'a sections of Iraq. If you take Baghdad, which is in the center of Iraq and which presumably, if there is a partition in Iraq, will be along the Sunni part of Iraq, how will you divide Baghdad? Baghdad has a majority Shi'a population. It has more Kurds living in it than in all of the cities in Kurdistan. And if you take in the south, in the Basra area, there are more than 35 percent Shi'a Arabs living in the south and another 5 or 10 percent Kurds and other nationalities living in the south. How are you going to remove them from that Shi'a sector or Iraq? If you go to the north in Kurdistan, all the cities in Kurdistan, whether it is Arbil or Sulaimaniya or any of the other cities, have Arab and both Shi'a and Sunni and Turkoman and other subdivisions of Iraq living in them. To envision that you can divide Iraq into three parts is to envision ethnic cleansing on a massive scale, sectarian killing on a massive scale, and the uprooting of families and even the divorce rate in Iraq will shoot up 300 percent because a husband who is a Sunni will divorce his Shi'a wife, and a Shi'a wife will Shi'a husband will divorce his Sunni wise, and a Kurdish mother will disown her half-Arab children, et cetera. It is just, in my view, impossible to do that. What we see today is an expression of the first of all, the lack of authority of the government, which encourages people to turn to their basic sectarian and ethnic divides for self-protection. Hence, the rise in militias and so on that, some of them, for political reasons, others for material gain or even for simply criminal activity, undertake the killings and the dislodgings that have been practiced in the last two years in Iraq. But this is not going to continue like that. Our hopes and our engagement with the Maliki government is to encourage them to extend their authority over all of Iraq and provide the daily requirements of stability and security that any society deserves anywhere in the world today. And by doing that, you can go a long way in meeting the challenges of the insurgency that takes place in Iraq. Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Turki Al-Faisal discussed Saudi efforts to promote progress in a panel discussion on the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The panel was part of the National Council on US-Arab Relations conference in Washington. In his remarks, Prince Turki noted that as the largest member of the GCC, Saudi Arabia has the greatest role in promoting progress in the region. To that end, the Kingdom has adopted a process of gradual reform and modernization that reflects the will, pace and customs of the Saudi people. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has enacted a number of economic reforms that have increased transparency and opened the Saudi economy to foreign investment. He also commented that the Kingdom has also taken steps to maintain stability in the energy market by expanding production capacity. On a broader level, Prince Turki said that the Kingdom has cooperated with its partners in the GCC to reach economic, trade and fiscal agreements that will lead to an economic union by 2009. He remarked that the recent financial surpluses in GCC nations provide member countries with the opportunity to build closer ties, such as the Saudi-UAE agreement to build an economic city. Prince Turki also noted that GCC member states are cooperating with the global community including the United States to seek peace and stability in the region, and with the Organization of the Islamic States to promote tolerance and fight poverty. "Consideration, understanding and patience are the watchwords that will allow stable countries in the region such as those in the GCC to see the spread of security and prosperity, instead of creeping instability across this Middle East," Prince Turki said. "When looking ahead, King Abdullah continues to express hope for the people of the Middle East. But he also stresses that only through cooperation will we find enduring resolution." Nawaf Obaid, Managing Director of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, an co-author (with Anthony Cordesman) of National Security in Saudi Arabia: Threats, Responses, and Challenges. Obaid gave a reprise of his report Fragmented Iraq. Obaid said that that Saudi Arabia has pledged to forgive all Iraqi debt. That amount, approaching billions of dollars, could provide substantial relief to the struggling central government. On the other hand Suzan Linman said that US-Saudi committees have been formed to facilitate issuing visas for Saudi businessmen in Virginia.