His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States, spoke to an active audience at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy's ASEAN auditorium last night.
Throughout his address, he argued that Saudi-American relations would be best improved by increasing a basic dialogue between the two countries' peoples.
Al-Faisal began his speech with a quotation from Illinois governor and presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson: "I have been told that one of the reasons the astronomers of the world cooperate is the fact that there is no one nation from which the entire sphere of the sky can be seen," he said, quoting the statesman. "Perhaps there is in that fact a parable for national statesmen, whose political horizons are all too often limited by national horizons."
Going beyond national horizons is essential, al Faisal said. "We are working to link our horizons, not just for our own betterment, but the betterment of our neighbors," he said.
Al-Faisal said the United States-Saudi Strategic Dialogue, created in April 2005 at President George W. Bush's Crawford ranch, was critical to creating cooperation between the two states.
"The terrorists [of Sept.11] could not sever the important ties that link our countries," he said.
In order to "institutionalize our connections," Al-Faisal said that the Strategic Dialogue has set up a framework that requires the American Secretary of State to meet with the Saudi Foreign Minister every six months.
The dialogue also created six sub-groups to discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict, work toward stability in Iraq and secure energy markets.
"When you confront a problem, you begin to solve it," Al-Faisal said, quoting former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The strategic dialogue "must be supported by a basic dialogue" that would include students, businessmen and other non-governmental actors, Al-Faisal said, because "they will be the ones creating new solutions and new ideas."
He referred to these relations as aspects of dialogue that would then "broaden the benefits of the more formal government-to-government relationship."
The dialogue should be a "two-way traffic," he said. "More Americans should study not only in Saudi Arabia, but throughout the Arab world."
He recommended mirroring France's tactic of sending university students abroad to the Middle East.
"Very little of the same could be said for America," Al-Faisal said.
Al-Faisal responded to many questions concerning a variety of Middle East foreign policy issues.
Answering a question regarding the Saudi recognition of the Hamas government in Palestine, he said that the "[Saudi] Kingdom has consistently extended support for the Palestinian people without preference for political parties. We have publicly called for Hamas to adhere to the Palestinian Authority."
He added that "this is not just a Saudi position but an Arab League position."
Al-Faisal was then pressed for the Saudi stance on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
"We call for all countries in the Middle East to be rid of weapons of mass destruction in general," he said. "We view the presence of nuclear weapons as increasing instability in the area."
Specifically naming Israel, Iran and Turkey, Al-Faisal said that having Middle Eastern countries "put their energies with our energies ... will be the way to avoid conflict."
Answering a question regarding the role of militant Islam in the spread of terrorism, Al-Faisal described the Saudi clamp-down on terrorism: "We're approaching this not just by military and police force, [but also] from an ideological battle that has to be waged ... against the cult-like ethos [of terrorists]."
According to Al-Faisal, 400 of 700 arrested for links to terrorism in Saudi Arabia have been "rehabilitated" through a process that includes reconnecting them to their families.
"Fortunately, the efforts of the king [Abdullah bin Abdulaziz] have recently prevented [terrorists] from any success," he said.
Al-Faisal kept the atmosphere light throughout the lecture, infusing his speech and answers with humorous anecdotes and jokes. The lights in the auditorium switched off at one point, surprising the audience. When they came back on, Al-Faisal exclaimed, "I didn't know gas was that expensive."
Al-Faisal began serving as Saudi Arabia's U.S. Ambassador in August of 2005. He served as Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland from 2003 to 2005.
Previously, Al-Faisal headed up the Saudi foreign intelligence service for 24 years. Educated at Princeton, Cambridge and Georgetown, he is a member of the Saudi royal family, brother to Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and son of the late King Faisal.
