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Washington seeks to undermine Saudi economy: Saudi paper
Khaleej Times, (AFP)
30 October 2003
RIYADH - A leading Saudi newspaper accused Washington on Thursday of seeking to undermine the Saudi economy by regularly issuing warnings of possible terror attacks in the kingdom, adding that Riyadh should withdraw billions of dollars invested in the United States.
“We have billions of dollars in America in the form of deposits, investments or commercial deals, and these are no longer safe,” the semi-official Al-Riyadh said in a front-page editorial.
“We should hurry up to protect our rights by converting these astronomical figures from dollars to euros, yens or other currencies that would shield us from America’s surprises,” it said.
Saudi students in the United States are “being dragged for interrogation on the basis of mere suspicions,” and Saudi leaders and businessmen, not to mention Islamic charities, are being accused of terror links, the paper wrote.
Calls were being made to “freeze or confiscate Saudi assets in America” to pay compensation to victims of the September 11 attacks and dozens of lawyers had been mobilized to “issue indictments that would hold these assets hostage.”
The latest terror alerts issued by the United States and other Western countries are unjustified, and their sole purpose is to portray Saudi Arabia as not safe and undermine its economy, Al-Riyadh charged.
On Monday the United States renewed its existing travel warning for Saudi Arabia, advising US nationals to defer non-essential travel to the kingdom in light of the potential for terrorist attacks.
The warning was issued despite Washington’s public recognition on Saudi Arabia’s efforts to crack down on suspected Islamist militants, stepped up in the wake of May 12 triple suicide bombings against residential compounds in Riyadh that left 35 people dead.
It was released just two days after the US embassy in Riyadh urged the 35,000-odd Americans in Saudi Arabia to be “particularly vigilant” for possible terrorist attacks timed to coincide with the current Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Similar alerts have been issued over the past week by Britain, Canada and Australia.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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