Former Saudi Arabian intelligence head Prince Turki bin Faisal worries that the US diplomatic dispatches released by WikiLeaks could harm US credibility. He spoke with SPIEGEL about the diplomatic fallout, his country’s relations with Iran and Israel, and the historical burden his country bears for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
SPIEGEL: Your Highness, a few days before the publication of the US State Department’s secret cables, US Foreign Minister Hillary Clinton called America’s most crucial allies to warn them. Did you get a phone call too?
Turki: No, I am not the foreign minister.
SPIEGEL: But you did serve Saudi Arabia, Washington’s most important ally in the Arab world, as ambassador to the US. Now, intimate details of that partnership have been revealed. What consequences will that have for your relations with the US?
Turki: America’s credibility and honesty are the victim of these leaks. People, including officials, will no longer speak to American diplomats frankly.
SPIEGEL: What does that mean for your country?
Turki:: We have overcome more serious issues in the past. In 1945, for instance, my grandfather, King Abdulaziz, met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy. Roosevelt tried to convince King Abdulaziz to support the aspirations of the Jewish people suffering in Europe and allow them to migrate to Palestine. My grandfather objected. Why should the Palestinians suffer for what the Nazis had been doing? So they agreed that Roosevelt would not take any action on this issue without consulting his Arab friends.
SPIEGEL: And then?
Turki: As it turned out — from papers which were subsequently leaked — Roosevelt’s successor Harry Truman had a Jewish poker friend. This man called him up and said: “Listen Harry, you better do this for old times’ sake.”
SPIEGEL: And so the US recognized Israel without informing the Saudis?
Turki: All of the former commitments went up in the air. The Kingdom was definitely affected by this and felt let down. But we had different interests as well: the development of oil resources, the anti-colonial struggle against the British and the French, the coming communist menace. So, of course, we continued our relations with the US while expressing our public opposition when the occasion arose.
SPIEGEL: And this is what you expect after the WikiLeaks revelations, too? Public opposition but the continuation of relations?
Turki: Our ties are strong and strategic. They will continue. An example of America helping us was the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Their soldiers were willing to fight and die. We won’t forget that. The US is also the only country with the ability to say no to the Israelis. America is the only game in town. The Europeans are sitting on their backside and saying: America, you go first, we’ll follow. The Europeans are not going to stand up for our rights in Palestine or Lebanon, neither will the Russians nor the UN. America will. And that is why our strategic relations with America are so important.
SPIEGEL: We now know from the US diplomatic cables that Israel and Saudi Arabia have one essential common interest: to keep Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. The dispatches show that the highest echelons of your leadership do not trust the Iranians on the nuclear issue.
Turki: Nor should we. We have always told the Iranians to be more sensible on this matter. But if you want Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to play with Iran, you first need to have a level playing field. There should be a reward regime and a sanctions regime, including military sanctions, for the countries who join a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction. In addition, there should be a nuclear umbrella guaranteed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. This nuclear umbrella could provide Israel with protection.
SPIEGEL: According to the now published documents, King Abdullah has asked the Americans to put an end to Iran’s nuclear program and to “cut off the head of the snake.”
Turki: The WikiLeaks documents are a hodge podge of selectivity, inaccuracy, agenda pursuit and downright disinformation.
SPIEGEL: Is it not true that, should Israel launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Saudi Arabia would open its airspace to Israel?
Turki: I know these rumors. Most of them come from Israel.
SPIEGEL: There are people in Saudi Arabia who think the same.
Turki: Laymen maybe. I have dealt with these issues all of my life and I am telling you: Saudi Arabia would never accept to allow Israel to attack any country in the area whatever that country does.
SPIEGEL: Why don’t you use your common fear of the Iranian bomb to make overtures to the Israelis?
Turki: Why should we? In 1981, Saudi Arabia proposed the acceptance of the borders of 1967 — the King Fahd plan. Israel, however, invaded Lebanon. In 2002, then crown prince Abdullah again gathered the whole Arab world behind a peace plan, the so-called Abdullah Initiative. But what did Israel do? Nothing. No answer.
SPIEGEL: Men like yourself and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have the same fears concerning the Iranian bomb. You are of roughly the same generation and you both have studied in the US. Why don’t you talk to each other?
Turki: Netanyahu capitalizes on the Iranian issue. He uses the threat from Tehran to marshal Israeli public opinion as well as global opinion. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does the same thing, by the way. On no other issue does he have as much support as on the nuclear issue. It is like two cocks fighting over the same hen.
SPIEGEL: Why, for the sake of peace, don’t you take the risk? Why don’t you just invite Netanyahu over to Riyadh?
Turki: I don’t think we should. Our population would accuse us of succumbing to Israeli pressure. Israel’s settlements — which I call colonies — would gain legitimacy if we spoke to Israel, wherever it might be.
SPIEGEL: Why is your position not accepted by the US — your and Israel’s principle ally?
Turki: The Israelis have worked harder, and in a smarter way, than we have to infiltrate the decision-making process in America. Whatever they want, they can easily find 300 Congressional representatives to support their proposal. We have no such speakers or spokesmen.
SPIEGEL: You can hardly blame the Israelis for this situation.
Turki: Absolutely. This is why the Israelis have beaten us, whether in America or in Europe. They have just been smarter.
SPIEGEL: Three weeks ago Saudi intelligence helped prevent a terror attack on Europe or America. You informed German officials of suspicious packages from Yemen. For the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, Saudi Arabia received positive headlines abroad in the connection with terror prevention.
Turki: There has been a fundamental change in intelligence and information work. When I was in intelligence, the rule was: If I give you a piece of information, then both of us would make sure that nobody knew about it. That’s how we protected our sources. There has been a shift because of the increased availability of information. Today I can go on Google and find things for which I would have had to send out hundreds of agents before. WikiLeaks is a perfect example.
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