Contact: Terry Ann Knopf
[617] 627-2778;
terry.knopf@tufts.edu


PRINCE BANDAR, SAUDI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. TO HOLD RARE NEWS
CONFERENCE AT FLETCHER ON THURS. [OCT. 23]

Medford, Mass.-- For only the second time since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, His Royal Highness Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States, will hold a news conference for American reporters this Thursday, Oct. 23, beginning at 4 p.m. at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

The news conference will run from 4-5 p.m.; it will be followed by a speech and Q&A session with students from 5:15 -6 p.m. Reporters are welcome to attend both events.

An experienced, highly regarded player in the corridors of Washington and in the intricacies of Mideast diplomacy, Prince Bandar was appointed Ambassador in 1983, and has held the post ever since. Calling him "the senior diplomat Washington," The New Yorker magazine [March 24, 2003] notes "he has served under four American presidents and has been the emissary to, among others Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Saddam Hussein, and the Chinese government."

With the disclosure that 15 of the 19 hijackers in 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia, relations between the United States and Saudi have remained delicate, often tense. Issues involving lawsuits pending in the American courts alleging Saudi complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks as well as questions about Saudi Arabia's commitment to a terrorist crackdown, democratic reforms and modernization continue to surface.

Only last Saturday [Oct. 17] The New York Times reported that Federal law enforcement authorities, in court documents unsealed the day before, said they suspected a group of Islamic charities in Northern Virginia of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars or more from Saudi Arabia to help finance terrorist attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.

In a 350-page report issued by the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C. last month, the government mounted a strong defense. Saying it has launched an aggressive campaign against terrorists, the report noted more than 1,500 individuals had been questioned, more than 500 suspects had been arrested, while large quantities of arms caches had been seized and numerous Al-Qaeda cells broken up.

And, as part of what it calls "a progressive reform agenda," the government on Oct. 13 announced elections for municipal counsels to be held in 15 cities and towns. New York Times' columnist Tom Friedman was elated. "Most people thought it would snow in Saudi Arabia before there would be elections," he wrote [Oct. 19]. Others dismissed the announcement as a PR gimmick.


WHO: Prince Bandar, Saudi Ambassador to the United States.

WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 23:
Speech, Q&A session , 5:15-6 p.m. ASEAN Auditorium

WHERE: The Fletcher School at Tufts University
160 Packard Ave. [near the tennis courts]
Medford, Mass.