Saudi prince donates $10 million to Trade Center fund, rejected by Giuliani

Good for Rudy. This guy is another of the "yes-but" crowd, who sort of condemn the attack, but really think we were asking for it. Meanwhile, the Saudi regime has been propping up and protecting OBL for years.

These people also conveniently forget that OBL has never, until now, expressed anything that indicated he gave a rat's ass about a Palestinian homeland. But now our Middle East policy is the retroactive rationale for everything.

 

According to CNN's Amonpour(sp?), obl only RECENTLY jumped on the Palestinian bandwagon.

 

Yeah - when he heard people like Prince B'Ozo using our foreign policy as an excuse for terrorism.

 

Guiliani's making a mistake. He's making the US appear as hard-line and radical as the people we're opposing.

It's not like the prince conditioned the aid, and said "use this only if you change policy." He gave money for a humanitarian purpose. He didn't happen to agree with all of US policy. Who the hell cares? Most of EUROPE doesn't for crying out loud.

Do we really demand complete agreement with ALL of our foreign policy? If someone doesn't agree, are they automatically one of the bad guys? For a nation that's supposedly pluralistic, we seem awfully intolerant of different perspectives.

Some US policy in the past has been indefensible. Should everyone pretend otherwise, simply to soothe feelings?

 

This is not going to go over well. Giuliani should reconsider this decision.

 

Haven, why don't you just move to Kabul if you don't like it here.




I know. I promised. I just couldn't help it.

 

This prince pulled a bush league punk ass move and Rudy is just calling him on it. The Saudi royalty can agree, disagree, and whatever else they want to from the safety of their little palaces in Saudi. He could have made those comments at any time before today and if he truly wanted to help he could have sent a check any time before today. He obviously orchestrated it and used his position and invitation to get a jab in. It was weak and classless. Good call Rudy G.

 

Yeah, real good call. On the day he said that the damage could cost close to $100 billion, he rejects a check by someone who's saying what many Americans are. He didn't say we deserved what happened, he just said that maybe we should look at all the reasons. We may disagree with him, but why in the hell should Rudy reject this money?? Good thing he's not running for a third term because turning this down would probably hurt him.

 

Haven,
You said it perfectly!!! Like numerous other responses you have replied on. I just wanted you to know you have numerous people who agree with your posts.

 

Hey, if the prince has a right to give the money, the mayor has a right to turn it down! It's not like he's badmouthing him, he just didn't take his money. He didn't say re-evaluate U.S. policies for a good cause he said re-evaluate policies for OUR cause, look at what he said:

<i>Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, in a statement released after he visited ground zero, said the U.S. government <b>"should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause." </b>
</i>

Sounds to me that next time the U.S. did something they didn't like they could say "Look we gave them money", and then another group of people are upset because THEY think the U.S. is being bought off! I say great move not accepting the money. Thank you but NO thank you!

 

Rudy G did exactly the right thing, and for exactly the right reason. I am very impressed with this man.

The Arab propagandists have tried interjecting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into every single policy issue concerning the ME in an order to turn opinion against the Israelis - and the US - for years, and they have been very successful. The purpose is to stir up hatred for the US and Israel (and the West in general), and through deception it has worked very well.

Never once mentioned is the simple fact that the Israelis have already offered the Palestinians everything they asked for, and the Palestinians rejected it. Never once is it mentioned that every single cease-fire since 1993 has been broken by the Palestinians, not the Israelis. Only the Palestinian deaths are reported, and terrorists are pertrayed as "freedom fighters". If they were "freedom fighters" then they'd be free now, because they would have accepted Barak's offer (which was everything they claim to have wanted).

Their real goal is to destroy Israel, and they are pissed at us for not letting them do it. Statements like that of the prince just inflame their hatred for us, and this is a clear attempt by the Saudi Royal Family to appear to its people as chastising the US for its evil deeds in supporting Israel. They are, after all, a despotic regime that is in serious danger of falling should their people rebel - and they are close to rebelling.

Good for you, Rudy. Say no to the Palestinian propaganda machine. Good for you.

 

two words

zionist lobby

 

Define what was meant by <i>recently</i> in calendar terms.


Mango

 

I guess since Rudy G. represents New York, he has the legal right to turn it down...I'm not so sure it's a good thing though. It all depends on how much money is needed to help the victims. I suppose if the Prince really really really cared then he would just annonymously donate it to some relief organization that helps people and doesn't give a damn about politics.

Simpson's quote:
Moe to Cashious Clay-
"I don't need your stinkin money."
(Moe folds the check and neatly puts it in his shirt pocket.)

 

3 words: Good for Rudy!

 

Come to New York City and visit Ground Zero and you will UNDERSTAND why Giuliani said what he said. I agree with him! We don't need charity from a person/country that believes we deserved this to happen.

I'm attending my second Memorial service this week! With another one to come next week!

 

from today's Daily News...

<I>Giuliani Nixes Saudi's 10M Gift

By LISA L. COLANGELO and CORKY SIEMASZKO
Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Giuliani told a Saudi prince to take his $10 million donation and stuff it yesterday after the world's sixth-richest man suggested the World Trade Center was attacked because the U.S. allowed Palestinians to be "slaughtered" by Israelis.

Giuliani also blasted Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal for daring to criticize American foreign policy on the one month anniversary of the attacks.

"I entirely reject that statement," Giuliani said. "There is no moral equivalent for this act, there is no justification for it. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 5,000, 6,000 innocent people."

Giuliani said the Saudi's remarks "only invites this happening in the future" and are "part of the problem."

The mayor, who had given the prince a tour of Ground Zero yesterday morning and was unaware of the statements until reporters asked him about it, wasted no time in ordering the Twin Towers Fund to nix the donation.

"We are not accepting the check, period," mayoral spokesman Sunny Mindel said.

Alwaleed flew back to Saudi Arabia after the memorial, and his spokesman, Amjed Shakir, said he could not comment.

There was no official reaction from the White House or State Department. But government sources said Giuliani's move caused some anxiety because President Bush is trying to keep Arab allies united in the drive to capture Osama Bin Laden and topple the Taliban.

A State Department source said officials were upset about the prince's remarks but that Giuliani did not consult federal authorities in his decision to reject the check.

The diplomatic dustup came as the death toll from the Sept. 11 attacks climbed by four, to 442, and the number of missing dropped from 4,807 to 4,776 as officials accounted for more foreign nationals who were believed to be dead.

One of the hundreds of princes who make up the Saudi royal family, Alwaleed is chairman of Kingdom Holding Co. The prince owns 25% of Euro Disney near Paris, plus smaller stakes in Planet Hollywood, Saks Fifth Avenue, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Apple Computers. He also is the second-largest individual shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns the New York Post.

As he toured Ground Zero before the memorial service, Alwaleed called the attack "a tremendous crime." He also had harsh words for renegade Saudi and terror mastermind Bin Laden, saying "he does not belong to Islam or any religion in the whole world."

"I came here to show my allegiance to New York," the prince said at the memorial. "We are here to tell America and to tell New York that Saudi Arabia is with the United States wholeheartedly."

Inflammatory Statement

But minutes later, an Alwaleed aide handed out a statement in which the prince said, "At times like this one we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack.

"I believe the government of the United States of America should reexamine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause," Alwaleed said. "Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek."

Giuliani has not shied away from speaking out on international issues. A strong supporter of Israel, he gave the Clinton administration agita when he barred Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from Lincoln Center during the United Nations' 50th anniversary celebration in 1995.

More recently, he infuriated the UN when he threatened to tow the cars of scofflaw diplomats.


Original Publication Date: 10/12/01</I>

http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-10-12/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-128263.asp

 

First off, show me where I said I didn't understand the reasoning behind what Giuliani did. Also, find and show me how or why you think that the Prince said or believes we deserved this to happen. I can show you quotes where he condemned the acts as terrible and unjust though. Here you are:

As he toured Ground Zero before the memorial service, Alwaleed called the attack "a tremendous crime." He also had harsh words for renegade Saudi and terror mastermind Bin Laden, saying "he does not belong to Islam or any religion in the whole world."

"I came here to show my allegiance to New York," the prince said at the memorial. "We are here to tell America and to tell New York that Saudi Arabia is with the United States wholeheartedly."



But do I think it was a good move on Giuliani's part? No. That's all I said. This may even cause more backlash against the US. Things are too sensitive right now to rock the boat over a comment made about our foreign policy.