Bush officials: Saudi antiterrorism efforts much improved
From Terry Frieden
CNN Washington
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top U.S. counterterrorism officials told a congressional panel on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has demonstrated a turnaround in cooperating with U.S.-led efforts to stem the flow of financial support to terrorist organizations.
Senior officials from the FBI, State Department and Treasury Department told the House International Relations Committee that Riyadh must take further steps, but praised a series of measures the Saudis have implemented since a deadly al Qaeda-backed attack in the Saudi capital last year.
"It is clear that the Saudi government 'gets it' when it comes to terrorism," said Cofer Black, State Department coordinator for counterterrorism.
FBI counterterrorism executive Thomas Harrington credited the Saudis with passing new laws to prevent donations to charities from being diverted to terrorist groups, and with carrying out an intense police crackdown.
"Saudi Arabia has contributed to the successful dismantling of al Qaeda cells, the arrests of key al Qaeda leaders, and the capture of al Qaeda members in the kingdom," Harrington testified.
Some members of the committee expressed doubts.
"With friends like Saudi Arabia, the U.S. hardly needs more enemies," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nevada.
"There are still questions of political will," complained Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York.
The government witnesses agreed the Saudi government had a poor record in combating terrorism prior to last year, but insisted things have changed.
"It wasn't very good at all," Black told the lawmakers. "But I now have reason to be optimistic."
Harrington echoed that view, stressing it had taken several years for Saudi officials to allow the FBI access to suspects in the Khobar Tower bombing investigation. The 1996 truck bomb attack on the U.S. military housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killed 19 U.S. military personnel.
"We now have effective contacts in their government, but it's not everybody. Some are only neutral. We still have a long way to go," he said.
Black agreed some Saudi officials are far more reliable in the war on terrorism than others.
"There are a lot of Saudi princes," he said. "But now we are working effectively with the people that count."
The House hearing took place as former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke was appearing before the 9/11 investigative commission across Capitol Hill.
But the controversy surrounding Clarke's allegations of failures by the Bush administration in its terror preparedness spilled into the hearing room. (Full story)
Democrats and Republicans tangled over the role Clarke had played in allowing about 140 Saudi citizens to fly out of the United States in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, when the nation's airports were still closed down.
Clarke said he signed off on granting the special flight by the Saudi nationals, but only after the FBI had approved the flight list.
