Six weeks later, no known Saudi arrests in connection with attacks Associated Press Thursday, October 25, 2001 Original Link:  http://www.bostonherald.com/news/americas_new_war/saudis10252001.htm Terrorism suspects have been arrested in over 40 countries since Sept. 11, but none have been announced so far in Saudi Arabia - believed to be the home of at least half of the suicide hijackers and many more suspects. No assets have been frozen in the kingdom either for several Saudi citizens and a charity that President Bush said were connected to terrorist operations. And more than six weeks after the attacks, the Saudi royal family, a friend to successive U.S. administrations, has yet to openly acknowledge any of its citizens could have been involved in the deadliest act of terrorism in history. Publicly, U.S. officials say their Saudi counterparts have complied with all their requests. Privately, they complain of a lack of cooperation from a country the U.S. military defended in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Although Washington dismisses suggestions of tensions, the current investigation underscores a complex relationship with a regime that controls vast oil supplies and protects Islam's holiest shrines. On Thursday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced that Bush had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and was satisfied with the country's support in the international war against terrorism. ``The president noted that he is very pleased with the kingdom's contributions to the efforts,'' Fleischer said. There was no mention of Saudi Arabia's contributions to the investigation although Fleischer said reports of differences between the two countries were incorrect. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef, who has been acting as a spokesman on developments in the kingdom, told journalists recently that Saudi Arabia had not received convincing evidence of Saudi citizens' participation in the attacks. ``There were 400 people aboard the four planes and we find it strange that the focus is on Arabs, and Saudis in particular,'' he said on Oct. 15. The FBI has said at least 10 of the 19 hijacking suspects were Saudis, although some may have used false identities. The Saudis have stressed that possibility. Nayef said last week that Saudi passports used by suspects were stolen or possibly sold. Saudi Arabia stripped Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the attack, of his citizenship in the early 1990s after he was caught smuggling weapons from Yemen. Fifty-nine Saudis, including some of the hijackers, appear on an FBI list of 370 people and organizations wanted for questioning in connection with the attacks. But Nayef said at a news conference recently that ``we haven't been officially informed of any Saudi involvement.'' He would not say whether the kingdom had launched its own probe. Some say however that the regime, in constant fear of Islamic opposition, may be quietly investigating on its own to avoid any appearance that it simply complies with Washington's wishes. ``I have no doubt that they're cooperating to some extent with the United States in terms of looking at money transfers or investigating previous suspects,'' said Samer Shehata, an Egyptian-born professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University. ``If the U.S. pushes them too hard it will only make it easier for opposition elements, inside and outside Saudi Arabia, to take advantage of that, to become stronger, to denounce the Saudi government,'' Shehata said. Wyche Fowler, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia until February, told The Associated Press that the Saudis have been cooperative in the past regarding bin Laden and the al-Qaida network. ``They have enlisted the help of the United States to track him down, and they have assisted us with the information we needed to pursue him,'' Fowler said. The United States and Saudi Arabia have sparred over how to respond to terrorism before. The royal family, sensitive to perceptions of Western domination, was irked when the FBI tried to ferry in teams of investigators following the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, an American military complex in Saudi Arabia, that left 19 U.S. servicemen dead. And this summer, Saudi officials were angered again when a federal grand jury took them by surprise and indicted 13 Saudi fugitives and a Lebanese man in June for the Khobar bombings. Soon after the indictments were issued, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan said that legal action was a matter for Saudi Arabia alone and that the United States should hand over all evidence relating to the case. Several of those indicted are believed to be in Saudi detention or at large. The U.S. government has said only that some of the 14 defendants were in custody in various countries. Saudi officials have also ruled out extraditing other suspects it holds in connection with the Khobar attack. Then, like now, Nayef said that the United States had not provided the kingdom with the necessary information. The same thing goes regarding the possibility of suspect financial transactions. At the request of the U.S. Treasury, 62 countries have ordered their financial institutions to block assets since Sept. 11, according to Tasia Scolinos, spokeswoman at the Department of Treasury. Saudi Arabia was not on the list. Since the attacks, the Bush administration has frozen the assets of the Wafa Humanitarian Organization and those of six Saudi citizens, five of whom later appeared on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists issued Oct. 22. The six include Sa'd al-Sharif, bin Laden's brother-in-law who is believed to be the head of his financial network, Yasin al-Qadi, who heads the Saudi-based Blessed Relief Foundation, accused of being an al-Qaida front, and Ahmed Ibrahim al-Mughassil, Ali Saed Bin Ali el-Houri, Ibrahim Salih Mohammed al-Yacoub and Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed al-Nasser who have all been indicted for the Khobar bombings. Nayef has said Saudi authorities have been unable to establish any links between accounts in the kingdom and bin Laden. The country's Monetary Agency on Sunday ordered banks to report and freeze any accounts of companies or individuals appearing on a U.N. list, but that list does not include any Saudis. Still, the pressure from Washington may be producing some results. On Sunday, Saudi authorities announced for the first time they had detained an undisclosed number of people who demonstrated support for bin Laden and have kept others from joining him in Afghanistan. Nayef said none of those arrested are connected with the Sept. 11 attacks. ``They were arrested for investigation and they do not pose a security threat,'' he said.