[Good! Now perhaps the more influential Saudis will stop turning a blind eye to what's going on in their country and do something about it. OG]

WIRE: 10/17/2001 11:39 am ET

Saudis Alarmed by Spate of U.S. Media Attacks

By Mariam Isa

RIYADH (Reuters) - Prominent Saudis are alarmed at a spate of scathing articles about the kingdom which have appeared in top U.S. publications this week, saying they may further damage ties already strained by the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.

Newspaper and magazine articles in the United States have accused the ruling family and other rich Saudis of funneling millions of dollars to "terrorist" Muslim groups -- including Osama bin Laden -- in return for political support.

One American commentator even suggested, albeit tongue in cheek, 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.

"The articles are biased and bent on provoking the situation more and more, rather than healing anything," Salah al-Hejailan, a top Saudi lawyer, told Reuters.

"I think they are very destructive to the (U.S.-Saudi) relationship. It's very frustrating because they are sensational and biased," he said.

Analysts say the 50-year-old strategic alliance between the world's largest industrial power and the conservative desert kingdom -- the world's largest oil producer and a key market for many Western export businesses -- is already being tested by the U.S. military campaign against Afghanistan.

CALLS FOR HEALTHIER RELATIONSHIP

Many recent U.S. editorials have resurrected an oil-boom cartoon stereotype of wealthy Saudis not practicing the piety they preach and buying U.S. military might to help prop up an allegedly corrupt regime.

"The frank criticism and candid opinion contained in your October 14 editorial 'Regarding Saudi Arabia' is to be welcomed for its honesty," Saudi businessman Hassan Youssef Yassin said in a letter to the New York Times.

"But I fear that the person who stands most to gain from it is Osama bin Laden. Among his stated goals is the intention to sever the warm relationship that exists between Saudi Arabia and America," he said.

The newspaper had said both countries should try to fashion a healthier relationship based on greater frankness and honesty.

Yassin gave Reuters a copy of the letter, which he sent to the New York Times. He said he was advised that it was not published because of its length.

U.S. officials in the kingdom, worried about growing public anger against Western support for the attacks on Afghanistan, also say that the articles are not helping to foster trust. Many Saudi officials are becoming convinced that there is a coordinated media campaign against the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam 14 centuries ago.

Some articles criticized Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, for barring the launch of attacks against Muslim Afghans from its soil -- a move most ordinary Saudis would strongly oppose.

Other articles have alleged that the Saudi government has refused to cooperate with Washington's investigation into the hijacked airliner attacks, in which nearly 5,400 people died.

The U.S. government says Saudi Arabia is fully co-operating by sharing intelligence and adding its weight to the global crackdown on the financing of terrorism.

"Relationships between governments can change overnight. It takes generations to repair what happens between people... America should take that into account," Hejailan said.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001