saudi minister announces that jews, not saudis hijacked 911 suicide planes

Saudi minister: Zionists behind 9-11

Insists fellow citizens had no 'power to do so horrendous an attack'

Posted: December 3, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29849

Saudi Arabia's minister of interior suspects that Zionists were behind the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States last year.

"We put [up] big question marks and ask who committed the events of
September 11 and who benefited from them," said Prince Nayif Ibn Abd
Al-Aziz, in an interview that originally appeared in the Kuwaiti newspaper
Al Siyasa. "Who benefited from events of 9-11? I think [the Zionists] are
behind these events.'"

The comments come amid U.S. news reports of a possible money trail between
Saudi royals and terrorists, including 9-11 hijackers.

Discounting the role of Saudi Arabians, the prince hinted that foreign
powers might have provided support to terrorists who carried out the attacks
that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, killing
about 3,000 people.

"I cannot still believe that 19 youths, including 15 Saudis, carried out the
September 11 attacks with the support of bin Laden and his al-Qaida
organization," he said. "It's impossible. I will not believe that these
people have the power to do so horrendous an attack."

The prince's beliefs echo assertions by media in the Arab world that the
Israeli Mossad hatched the 9-11 plot, enlisting Islamic extremists to carry
out the attack in order to increase American support for Israel.

A translation of the interview was published on Friday by 'Ain-Al-Yaqin, a
weekly Internet news magazine run by the Saudi royal family. Excerpts were
distributed by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

'Zionist-controlled media'

According to the interviewer, "Nayif stressed that relations between the
Saudi and U.S. governments are strong despite the Zionist-controlled media
that manipulated the events of Sept. 11 and turned the U.S. public opinion
against Arabs and Islam."

The prince reiterated Saudi Arabia's official condemnation of the attacks
and urged Arab mass media to address terrorism, "warn Arab nationals of it,
and let our voice be heard by the world that our countries are against
terrorism."

Nayif also exhorted the Arab media to protect Islam from an attempt by
"foreign intelligence" to connect it with terrorism. He said he suspected
that terrorist organizations have a relationship with foreign intelligence
that works against Arabs and Muslims, especially Israeli intelligence.

"They wanted to attack us at our bases and tenets, notably our religion and
the Palestinian issue," he said.

But the interviewer states that Nayif accused the Muslim Brotherhood ­ the
radical organization founded in Egypt in 1928 ­ of being the cause of most
problems in the Arab world. The article noted that the interior minister's
"outburst against the Brotherhood came amid mounting criticism in the United
States of Saudi Arabia's longstanding support for Islamist groups around the
world. ..."

"All our problems come from the Muslim Brotherhood," Nayif said. "We have
given too much support to this group."

Nevertheless, the prince insisted that the West needs to change its image in
the Arab world "fast."

He chastised the U.S. media and some European media, especially Britain's,
for a hostile attitude toward Arabs that has fueled hatred. The West's
position toward the "Palestinian cause" has contributed to that hatred shown
by Arabs, he said.

Prince Nayif added, according to the article's paraphrase, "that painting
Saudi citizens with the brush of terrorism and talk about interference in
education, and even the Islamic law, increased hatred of the people toward
the U.S., although the U.S. people are innocent and good in general."

He also denied that U.S. officials have requested that Saudi Arabia change
its educational curricula, likely a reference to concerns about anti-Jewish
sentiments. He defended the Saudi educational system as "intact but subject
to developing by Saudi experts."

The foreign minister denied charges that Saudi Arabia's "privacy" annoys its
allies, offering evidence of the kingdom's "excellent, diversified and
deep-rooted relations with others."

Vice and virtue

The prince also commented on the kingdom's Committee to Prevent Vice and
Promote Virtue, or religious police, in the face of criticism over its
handling of people who violate Islamic law and custom according to the
strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.

He characterized the department, which monitors public behavior, as a
governmental agency that does not have hegemony and operates under the law.

Its workers should avoid harshness, especially with young people, he said,
noting that an institute for training would be established to address
"shortcomings."

The religious police became embroiled in controversy both domestically and
internationally in March when 14 school girls died in a fire in Mecca after
they allegedly were prevented from leaving the burning building because they
were not properly dressed to be seen in public. The girls either did not
have a hair covering or an abaya, a long robe.

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"Who benefited from events of 9-11? I think [the Zionists] are behind these
events. " -- Prince Nayif Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, Saudi minister of interior