ABU DHABI Ñ Saudi officials are incresingly concerned that a $100
trillion lawsuit against leaders of the kingdom could result in the freezing of
their assets in the United States.
Gulf Arab sources said Saudi officials and their attorneys have been
examining the legal fallout from the lawsuit filed in a U.S. court by the
families of victims of the Al Qaida suicide attacks last year. The sources
said the lawsuit could result in long-term diplomatic and legal battles
that could resemble those initiated by the families of the victims of the
1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie.
The state-controlled Saudi media quoted officials as dismissing the suit
against leading Saudi banks as well as government officials, Middle East Newsline reported. The top
official named in the suit is Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul
Aziz.
"Such allegations, whose aims and fomenters are well known, will not
harm the kingdom or affect its positive role in achieving international
peace, stability and prosperity," Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz
was quoted as having told a Saudi Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
But the sources said Saudi officials have been warned that the U.S.
judicial system has been empathetic to suits filed by victims of Islamic
attacks. They said any freezing of Saudi assets would take years to undo.
The lawsuit asserts that Prince Sultan had planned strategy with Bin
Laden as early as 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Affadavits filed accuse
the defense minister and other leading officials of helping provide $300
million to Al Qaida to ensure that it does not operate in the kingdom.
In July 1998, the suit said, then-Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki
Al Faisal Al Saud met Al Qaida and Taliban
leaders in Kandahar, Afghanistan and reached agreement on fresh aid from
Riyad. The agreement called for Bin Laden not to operate against the Saudi
regime.
"The agreement stipulated that Osama Bin Laden and his followers would
not use the infrastructure in Afghanistan to subvert the Saudi government
and in return, the Saudis would make sure that no demands for the
extradition of individuals, such as Osama Bin Laden, and/or the closure of
terrorist facilities and camps were ever met," the lawsuit said.
"Prince Turki also promised to provide oil and generous financial assistance to both
the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. After the meeting, 400 new pick-up
trucks arrived in Kandahar for the Taliban, still bearing Saudi Arabia
license plates."
"The compensation case against Saudi individuals and institutions is
extremely important, even in the absence of any of the evidence which the
Arab lawyers assume would have to be provided, and should be taken seriously
by those concerned," Saudi analyst Saleh Bin Mohammed Al Khathlan wrote in
the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily.
Al Khathlan said the lawsuit by the family of the victims of Al Qaida
would mark a political trial. He did not rule out that the Bush
administration could encourage such proceedings to pressure Saudi Arabia to
join in the war against Iraq.
"Might is right whether we like it or not, and there's no point wasting
our time talking about international law and justice," he said. "Everything
is subject to political considerations."
[On Tuesday, U.S. President George Bush met Saudi ambassador Prince
Bandar Bin Sultan for more than an hour at Bush's ranch in Texas. White
House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush and Bandar discussed a range
of issues, including bilateral issues, Iraq, the Middle East and the Saudi
role in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.]
