Rumsfeld phones Prince Sultan to contain the Saudi- American crisis

The Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz on Thursday received a telephone call on late Wednesday night from the US defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. During the telephone conversation, Rumsfeld expressed his own personal regret together with the US defense department over what was stated in a US recommendation report about Saudi Arabia.

The US defense secretary stressed to Prince Sultan that the writer of the report only represented his personal view, and does not represent the US defense department.

Both Prince Sultan and Rumsfeld talked about the deep friendship linking the two friendly peoples and countries.

Rumsfeld was referring to a report which was submitted by a analyst at a consultation council for the Pentagon in which he described Saudi Arabia as an "enemy."

For its part, Rand corporation explained that the report which was submitted by Laurent Murawiec on July 10 is not a research that was carried out by the establishment, and only embodies views of its writers.

The foundation's foreign relations director told the Saudi News Agency that the report represents a personal view and the foundation did not ask for the report nor financed it.