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UNCLASSIF IED - COMM IS SION SEN SIT IV B

Memorudum for the Record M eeting w ith D eputy Foreign M inister N izar M adaniD ate: O ctober 15,2003Location: Ministry of Foreign Affa~rs, RiyadhC ommission particip ants: Ph ilip Z eliko w, D aniel Byman, and K evin S ch eidO ther particip ants: A ctin g C harge d'A ffaires M argaret S co bey, M F A protocolrepresentativesWriteup by : Dan ByrnanReview ed by: Philip Z elikowN otes: T his memorandum is a summary of the key p oin ts o f th e m eetin gPhilip Zelikow began w ith an overview of the C om mission's w ork and a sk ed ques ti on son th e Kingdom's willingness and capacity to fight terrorism, both b efo re a nd afterSeptem ber 11t 200 1. N izar responded to the questions and raised seve ra l addi tiona li ss ue s f or c on sid era ti on .N izar em phasized that the Septem ber 11 attacks horrified m ost Saudis. The 1 Saudisw ho carried out the attacks do not represent the governm ent or the people. H e claim edthat pollin g indicated that 90 percen t o f S aud is reject B in L ad in and his activ ities. InNizar's view, the U nited States and S audi A rabia are inthe "sam e boat" with. regard toterrorism. Infact, he believes that B in L adin m ade the decision to use Saudis for the attack in order to drive a w edge betw een the U nited States and Saudi A rabia.S ince the Septem ber 11 attacks, Saudi A rabia has taken seven steps to fight terrorism:

S audi leaders have declared a "relentless w ar" against terrorists, those w hofund them , and those who justify t he ir a ct iv it ie s ideo log ic al ly ; The Kingdom has f ro ze n t er ro ris t a ss et s and tried to block both deliberate anda cc id en ta l f in an cia l s uppo rt ; A H igh C om mission w as established in 2003 to oversee charities;

UNCLASSIFIED - COMMISSION SENSITIVE

A pproxim ately 500 suspected terrorists have been arrested , and regular arrestscontinue;. T errorist cells have been broken up, and arms seized; Saudis have provided inform ation on terrorists to several governm ents,

including t he Un it ed S ta te s, t ha t ha s saved many lives; an d The K ingdom has established two joint task forces w ith the U nited S tates .

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.U NCLA SS lF IE D - COMM IS SION SENS IT IV E

S au di A ra bia o ften d id a p oor job ex plain in g its p olicie s to th e America n p ub lic. A fterSeptember 11 , howeve r, it ha s become more open. He enc ou rag es Americ ans to v is it theKingdom to learn about how it is fighting terrorism.S au di fo re ig n p olic y empha siz es p re se rv in g p ea ce a nd s ta bility . T he p rimary is su estod ay are th e A rab -Israeli co nflic t an d Ira q. T he A rab -Isra eli d ispu te is a p rim ary so urceof instability, so the K ingdom w orks hard for peace. In Iraq, S au di A rab ia w an ts topreserve both th e s ov ere ig nty a nd te rrito ria l in te grity o f th e c ountry . He b elie ve s th atIraqi s ta bility re qu ire s p ro gre ss o n th e p olitic al p ro ce ss in Ira q, th e ro le o f th e Un ite dNations, and the economic situat ion.Saudi Arabia h as made p rogre ss on r ela tions w ith its n eig hbors . S au di A ra bia a ndYemen coope ra te c lo se ly . The o ften ..troub led r ela tionship imp roved con sid er ab ly a fte rthe 2000 border agreement. Relations with Iran were oor after th e 1979 Islamicrev olu tio n b ut ha ve im roved

InSaudi embass ie s, th e Ambassado r has t he r espons ib ili ty fo r th e b ila te ra l r ela tionship .Embas sy o ff ic ia ls r espons ib le fo r I sl am ic a ffa irs o r commerce rely o n th eir own ag en cie sfo r admin is tr ati on and budget c on ce rn s. If th ey a re a ctin g in ap pro pria te ly , th eAm bassador can take the issue to the government inRiyadh .N izar ha d n o info rm atio n o n th e po st-S ep temb er 1 1 d epa rtu re o f sev eral m embers o f theB in L ad in family from the U nited S tates, b ut he n oted that this w as not a M inistry ofFo re ign A f fa ir s r espons ib ili ty . Z elikow asked th at h e loo k in to th is m atter an d p ro videa dd itio na l in fo rma tio n, a nd N iz arp rom is ed to h elp in th is p ro ce ss .'N iz ar e xp re ss ed d is be lie f a bo ut th e a lle ga tio ns re ga rd in g P rin ce ss Haifa , n otin g th at itw as prep osterou s th at she was invo lv ed in te rr or ism . Zelikow exp re ssed under stand ingo f th is p os itio n a nd exp la in ed that th e in te re st was primarily due to the unclear role ofO sam a B assnan - if th e C omm ission co uld learn more a bo ut h is ro le, ev ery thing co uld b ep ut in a c le are r p ers pe ctiv e.N izar also ~phasized thatl I[Embassybelieves he is a memb~oftheC ouncil] w as a good m an, whom he Iq iew p ers on ally a nd re sp ec te d. Z elik own oted th at circumstan ce s ha d p ut him in th e- publ ic eye in th e U nited S ta tes an d tha t th eC omm issio n so ug ht acc ess to him to se t 9 1 e record straight.

U NC LA SSIF IED - C OM MISSIO N SEN SIT IV E