ABC news: Saudi King Abdullah on Iran, oil, and internal reform
Saudi Arabia-Regional, Politics, 10/14/2005

The Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz vowed to fight terrorism but he said he does not understand why there is such a focus on Saudi Arabia regarding this, while the matter is connected to a phenomenon taking place in many countries.

King Abdullah described, in a meeting with the journalist Barbara Walters of ABC News to be broadcast today, that the attacks of September 2001 is madness and al-Qaida is an epidemic. He said that Saudi Arabia is ready to fight terrorism for 30 years in order to exterminate it.

However, the Saudi king regretted, in a clear remark to the USA, the focus on Saudi Arabia in fighting terrorism at a time when "extremism is in each and every country in the world."

He also denied that his country backs religious sides that encourage extremism, recalling that Saudi Arabia has re-organized the work of the charities and stopped support for establishments which are viewed as extremist while school curricula has been changed in this regard.

Concerning the nuclear issues, King Abdullah told ABC News that his country like many other countries in the region "reject any country to have nuclear weapons, especially in the Middle East region."

He renewed his warning to Iran of becoming "a bulwark in the path of peace and security in Iraq." However his tone was less sharp than that of the Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal when he openly accused Tehran of practicing sectarianism in Iraq, and the accusation against Washington of facilitating Iran's goals in Iraq.

Concerning human rights, including women's rights, King Abdullah expressed confidence of continued reforms and expected "women to be allowed to drive cars one day."

He told ABC News that one of the things that made him accept his first press interview since he assumed the throne is that his partner in the interview is a woman, a reference to journalist Barabar Walters who did the interview.

King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia is ready to make more efforts in order to control the increasing oil prices, noting that Saudi Arabia increased its production to more than 10 million barrels daily because it considers that the prices benefited Saudi Arabia financially, but inflected heavy damages in other countries.

Two weeks before, the Saudi oil minister Ali al-Nueimi refused to comment on whether Saudi Arabia will increase its oil production during this month up to 9.6 million barrels of oil daily saying that there are no buyers for the Saudi oil if Riyadh pumps more oil.

Previous Stories:
  Iranian foreign minister postpones visit to Saudi Arabia   (10/6/2005)
  Saudi Arabia holds unofficial talks with NATO   (10/6/2005)
  Saudi journalist Rania al-Baz fled to France   (10/5/2005)
  Iran's foreign minister heads to Saudi Arabia to contain looming crisis   (10/4/2005)
  Hughes commends Saudi Arabia, calls it to honor non Muslims   (9/28/2005)
  Saudi FM accuses US of partitioning Iraq, handing it over to Iran   (9/22/2005)
  The Shiite rights in Saudi Arabia   (9/20/2005)
  Saudi king confers with Erdogan, Rafsanjani   (9/19/2005)
  Jeddah: first women to enter chambers of commerce elections   (9/19/2005)
  Riyadh to form a government commission for human rights   (9/13/2005)
  Faqih plays down Saudi pardon to imprisoned reformers   (8/10/2005)
  Vast Arab, international participation at King Fahd's funeral   (8/2/2005)
  Riyadh calls for unity of Lebanese, Iraqis and Palestinians national unity   (7/19/2005)

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