Meeting between Secretary Albright and Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, State Department, February 1997

The meeting that took place today between Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Sultan bin Abdul Aziz and his son Bandar was carried with the full intention of the Saudi royal family to build direct relationships with Albright to help in the next four years to lobby with her on any foreign initiative or request they may have. With Christopher, Bandar had very easy access and in fact had more meetings with than any other foreign Ambassador in Washington. Albright is not very keen on the Middle East which will limit Bandar's access and so he is trying to insure that every meeting he will have with her, he gets the most from that meeting.

Let us take you to the briefing room of the State Department first before we analyze the situation.

MR. BURNS: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the State Department briefing. I want to welcome four Indonesian journalists who are here through the USIA International Visitors Program. I believe they're sitting right here. Welcome.

We also have a very distinguished group of Foreign Service Officers who are new Foreign Service Officers. They're getting their assignment today. They want to make sure that the behavior of the American press corps is appropriate for these briefings. That's why they're here. They're going to be watching today, George.

Let me give you an idea of what the Secretary of State has done today. Today has been a day when she has focused very intensively on Saudi Arabia, with the visit of Prince Sultan. This morning she had a one-hour bilateral meeting up in her office with Prince Saud, the Saudi Foreign Minister. I'll go into that in just a minute. She then had a 45-minute bilateral just a little while ago with Prince Sultan and Prince Saud and Prince Bandar. She's now at a lunch given by her in honor of Prince Sultan, and this evening she'll be attending a dinner in his honor.

This follows the meetings that Prince Sultan had with President Clinton and Defense Secretary Cohen and others here in Washington. It's a very important visit, and in a couple of minutes I do want to review the substance of that with you.

Let me speak for just a minute about her consultations this morning with the Saudi leadership. The visit of Prince Sultan provides us with an opportunity to emphasize the central importance of the U.S.-Saudi relationship in the Middle East. Today, Secretary Albright talked to both Prince Sultan and Prince Saud about four primary issues.

First, they talked about the Al-Khobar bombing, as you would expect, and we've been assured of continued Saudi cooperation and intention to work very effectively and completely with the United States but specifically with the FBI in our ongoing investigation to determine who bombed the Khobar barracks last June; who was responsible for the deaths of the 19 American officers. The United States is committed to bringing these people to justice, and we're counting on the Saudi authorities to help us to do that.

Second, they talked at great length in both meetings about the Middle East peace negotiations. Secretary Albright reviewed for them the U.S. understanding of where things are on the Israel-Palestinian track; our appreciation of the Israeli-Syria and Israel-Lebanon tracks. Ambassador Dennis Ross also met yesterday with Prince Sultan and Prince Saud for about an hour-and-a-half and gave them an in-depth review of the U.S. position and U.S. involvement in these talks.

We were very pleased to learn today that the Saudi Government intends to continue its large economic assistance to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. They also talked about Iran, and they agreed on the need for continued international isolation of the Iranian Government for the reasons that are well known to all of you. Secretary Albright briefed them on the fact that Iran came up in every one of her nine stops on her trip, predominantly in Europe where we differed, of course, with most of the European governments on their continued attachment to the critical dialogue; but also in Asia with the three governments that we visited in Asia.

Last, they talked about Iraq, and there was complete agreement between the Saudis and Americans today that we ought to continue to apply the sanctions on Iraq - the U.N. Security Council sanctions - until Iraq meets all of the relevant commitments under all the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions. If you have questions on this, I'd be glad to go into these discussions further.

Two more items. I have a statement today that's available to you in the Press Room concerning the very difficult and tragic situation along the Thai-Burma border. Let me go into this just for a minute.

The United States is deeply concerned about the actions of the Royal Thai Army forcibly repatriating some 900 Karen women and children from areas in Ratchaburi Province across the border into Burma. We are equally disturbed by reports that the Thai Army forcibly repatriated civilian Karen males, including boys as young as ten years old, and this was done - they transported them into Burma near the Karen military headquarters and denied asylum to several hundred others at the same time.

The United States regrets these actions, which run contrary to Thailand's previous generous policy of providing asylum to those fleeing oppression in Burma. We urge the Thai Government not to abandon its historic commitment to humanitarian treatment of the victims of conflict in Burma. We call on the Thai authorities to cease the forcible return of Karen refugees immediately and to recommence provision of asylum until conditions in Burma permit the safe and orderly return of the refugees to Burma. The ultimate responsibility for this tragedy lies, of course, with the military dictators in Burma itself and with their repressive policies against minority populations in Burma.

My last item is just to let you know that Deputy Secretary Talbott and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger are spending the day in Haiti. They are there to review with the Haitian Government the important progress that Haiti has made in strengthening its new democracy and to encourage further efforts towards economic reform. They'll be meeting with a cross-section of the leadership. They'll be reviewing all the support that the United States and other members of the international community continue to give to Haiti, and to emphasize our very strong and unyielding support for these reform efforts.

With that, George, I'll be glad to go to your questions.

QUESTION: Can you characterize the Saudi position on getting to the bottom of the bombings last June? I know you said that the United States counts on the Saudis to do their part, and I just wondered whether you can say anything about the Saudi response?

MR. BURNS: I can tell you that in all of the meetings that they had, but most importantly in the meeting with President Clinton, Prince Sultan and his associates pledged full cooperation by the Saudi authorities with the FBI and other agencies of the U.S. Government. We were very pleased to receive these assurances, and we are counting on continued Saudi cooperation in the future.

QUESTION: What were the specifics about assurances from the Saudis? Will the FBI get to interview the suspects that are detained?

MR. BURNS: Bill, I can tell you that they were quite detailed conversations on this. For obvious reasons, you'll understand why I'm not going to go into those details in public. But safe to say that since the start of this investigation, we've been assured of full cooperation. As you know, we've had several comments to make along the way, but in these face-to-face meetings this week, we were pleased to receive again the assurances of cooperation from one of the senior Saudi leaders, and we expect that that will continue.

I think the FBI Director has made very clear the importance of certain types of access by FBI agents in Saudi Arabia, and we're counting on that.

QUESTION: Nick, did they bring any new information on this incident with them to share with the United States?

MR. BURNS: They did share with our Administration their appreciation of how the investigation is going. I think Prince Sultan said publicly when he was over at the Pentagon that the Saudis have not come to any definite conclusions about who was responsible. The investigation continues.

QUESTION: Are you satisfied with the level of help that is currently being offered by the Saudis?

MR. BURNS: We're very pleased to receive the reassurances of cooperation this week, and we're counting on that to be fulfilled in the future.

QUESTION: Nick, you say there's no definite conclusion about who's responsible on their part. Does that mean that they doubt the Iranian link?

MR. BURNS: As you know, we've never spoken publicly about that. There have been all sorts of allegations in the press, and we've never confirmed those. When the Saudi authorities, with the assistance of the United States, get to the bottom of this, hopefully we'll find the individuals who planned and executed the attack on the American military compound and bring those people to justice. But at this point the United States is certainly not going to sling charges around the world. We're going to wait until the investigation is completed.

QUESTION: Nick, the pledge of cooperation - was it just that general, or was it as specific as: they'll allow the U.S. investigators to talk to people they apprehend?

MR. BURNS: Sid, again you'll understand why I'm not going to go into the details of all this, but just suffice to say that we're satisfied that we've received assurances this week of full
cooperation.

QUESTION: Is the FBI satisfied?

MR. BURNS: If the President of the United States is satisfied, Bill, he speaks for the U.S. Government.

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

MR. BURNS: Excuse me?

QUESTION: Some kind of reward? Any reward money, or anything?

MR. BURNS: Reward money. As you know, in instances like this, when we believe that the terrorists have been identified but not apprehended, the Department of State does offer publicly financial rewards for those people who can come forward and give us information that would lead to the arrest of the terrorists. We've done that in the case of the two Libyans who we believe placed the bomb on board Pan Am 103 in December 1988.

We've done it in a number of other instances, and, as you know, we've paid out quite a lot of money over the last couple of years, and we even have a home page on our website dedicated to this. We haven't made the decision in this particular case, because there's no one to go after right now publicly, because the Saudis haven't completed their investigation. But I cannot foreclose that possibility in the future.

QUESTION: Nick, in light of the Prince's remarks at the Defense Department, is it still your understanding from the Saudis that they are holding suspects in connection with this crime?

MR. BURNS: David, I just can't go into all the details of our conversation with them.

QUESTION: I understand that, but could you tell us whether or not they have suspects held or not?

MR. BURNS: I don't want to answer the question. I don't want to take you through all the specifics of our conversation with the Saudis this week. Our ability - our common ability with the Saudis - to apprehend the terrorists who killed the Americans is going to be enhanced if we are discreet publicly, and we pledged to be so.

QUESTION: There's a confusing situation here, in that the Saudis had previously said that they were holding suspects, and now Prince Sultan has said that they haven't definitively decided who's committed this crime. It leaves the public wondering what's going on.

MR. BURNS: We certainly understand the public interest here and specifically the interest of the 19 American families, but we said since the beginning of this search that we're not going to be commenting publicly on the twists and turns in the investigation, because that might be damaging to the investigation, so I'm not going to start that today.

QUESTION: But do you think they will really cooperate with the U.S.?

MR. BURNS: Yes, we do.

QUESTION: Nick, on the same subject but a different area. You said that the Saudis pledged continued financial cooperation with the Palestinians. Did they quantify a number for you? What do you -

MR. BURNS: Yes, they did, but I'm going to leave it to the Saudi Government to announce their specific allocations. But they did tell us this morning - Prince Saud let us know - that the Saudis are earmarking a very large and specific allocation for the Palestinian Authority to fund some of the projects that Chairman Arafat has undertaken on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We very much support that.

As you know, the United States itself is contributing $500 million over a five-year period to the Palestinians, and we've urged consistently that the Arab countries not only pledge money but make good on their commitments. We're very pleased to see that Saudi Arabia is taking the lead on this.

QUESTION: Is this new money, or is it a commitment -

MR. BURNS: I did get the sense it was new money, but again, Judd, it's not for me to announce a Saudi Government initiative. We're just very pleased to hear the reaffirmation of Saudi interest in supporting the Palestinians, which is a very large U.S. interest.

QUESTION: Do your recall how much they pledged publicly and how much they disbursed already?

MR. BURNS: Aziz, I'm going to let the Saudis announce this.

QUESTION: But on this subject, Nick, can you make available - you have in the past - list of previously pledged money and how much has in fact been contributed?

MR. BURNS: I think we can do that. I think we can work with the Near East Bureau to get you those figures, yes. Be glad to do that.

QUESTION: Mr. Burns, did Prince Sultan invite the Secretary to visit the Middle East, or is Ambassador Ross going? Are you going to do any new initiatives?

MR. BURNS: First thing, (inaudible), I think the Secretary has heard from all of her Arab interlocutors, including from Prince Sultan. They hope that she will visit the Middle East and, of course, she will at some point in the future.

Our Middle East diplomacy is really focused on Washington for the next month or so because following Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Sultan's visit, Chairman Arafat will be here next week and His Majesty King Hussein will also be visiting shortly thereafter.

Following that round of consultations, the Secretary will sit down with Dennis Ross and her other advisors and decide how we proceed from there. At some point, I'm sure Ambassador Ross will travel to the Middle East and at some point I know the Secretary of State will make a trip to the Middle East but she's not set specific dates for it.

CACSA's own Responses

ON COOPERATION ON THE BOMB PROBE

Clinton, Cohen, and Albright requested it and were all given assurances of cooperation. For the first time, Iran was not mentioned in the context of the culprit. FBI thinks it is an inside job. State Department has Osama bin Laden in their eye sight.

ON VISITING THE MIDDLE EAST

Clinton was not invited, Cohen was invited and committed by the end of the year, Albright left it vague.

ON MILITARY CONTRACTS

February 27th dinner thrown by Madeleine Albright will mostly have military contractors with interests in selling to Saudi Arabia. Sultan has met privately today with few CEO's to discuss on-going or about-to-become-reality-programs. Kickbacks and commissions were left for Bandar to tackle and discuss. The F16-s is still alive as assurances were given by Sultan to that effect to Lockheed Martin executives.

ON REALITIES

Saudi Arabia may still not cooperate fully and CACSA expects another media whip lashing before these Sudeiris get the message.

The Lockheed Martin F16-s sale will move forward but Israel may still not be fully satisfied with the guarantees and counter balances they are requesting.