Saudi official says country 'indebted' to U.S.

al Faisal

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- People in Saudi Arabia are "confused" by criticism of their country in the U.S. media and feel "indebted" to the United States for its long-standing support of the kingdom, the former Saudi intelligence chief said Sunday.

"We have never, never felt anything but the closest of friendship and respect and admiration for the United States," said Prince Turki al Faisal on NBC's "Meet The Press."

"Definitely, we owe a tremendous debt to the United States, and not just the United States but to the world community in general that stood with us in 1991 [during the Gulf War].

"We send our students to the United States to study. We buy most of our technology and our goods from the United States," he said.

"If you look at the exchange of trade between our two countries, you will see that the United States' biggest partner in the Middle East is the kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

EXTRA INFORMATION Chronology of U.S./Saudi military ties

Al Faisal reiterated comments he made Friday in an interview with CNN in which he said that since 1991 the Saudis had come up with several plans to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with covert operations.

Al Faisal, who headed Saudi intelligence for 24 years before stepping down in August, told CNN the United States never followed up on Saudi Arabia's "specific proposals" to topple the Iraqi leader.

In both interviews, al Faisal made it clear the Saudis believe any action to topple Saddam Hussein must come from inside Iraq, rather than be initiated by the United States.

"If you send invasion forces from outside, you will only rally people to Saddam Hussein, particularly in Iraq," he said on NBC.

Asked directly if the kingdom would allow the United States to launch an attack on Iraq from Saudi soil if Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction appeared imminent, he said, "I think any change in Iraq ... must come from inside Iraq."

Scrutiny of Saudi Arabia has increased since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked airplanes that day were of Saudi origin, and the mastermind of the attack, Osama bin Laden, is from a prominent Saudi family, though the kingdom stripped him of his citizenship.

Critics say the Saudis have not done enough to combat terrorism, including cutting off money to terrorist groups and cracking down on Islamic extremists who fuel the religious fervor behind the terrorists' campaign.

"The activities of these people are totally condemned and rejected by Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's people," al Faisal said.

And he likened the movement of money to terrorists to situations in the United States in which "some people contributed to charities in Ireland that go to the IRA."

In response to recent criticism of Saudi Arabia, some prominent Saudi officials, including al Faisal, have taken the unusual step of consenting to media interviews in the United States to defend their country.

"Your president, your secretary of state, your secretary of defense, all of the high officials here, they tell us that Saudi Arabia is doing all of the things that it has been asked to do," al Faisal said on NBC.

"And yet, we hear in The New York Times or The Washington Post or the Chicago Tribune so-called unnamed officials from the White House or the State Department, or so on, being critical of the kingdom. So we are confused."