U.S.-Saudi Rift? Saudi Actions Say Yes, Saudi Prince Says No

April 11, 2007 — -- One of the most powerful countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has been a longtime ally of the United States.

But in recent weeks, the country, which shares its northern border with Iraq and holds one-quarter of the world's oil, has shunned America.

In March, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz publicly attacked the U.S. military presence in Iraq, characterizing American troops there as an "illegitimate foreign occupation."

On "Good Morning America," Saudi Arabian's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, asserted his country was not attacking America or siding with Iraq.

"It's not attacking, and it's a pity that the media concentrated on this particular issue," Faisal said. "[King Abdullah] was talking about legitimacy, not legality. … There is more that binds us together than the differences that we have."

Faisal would not state Saudi Arabia's stance on when U.S. troops should pull out of Iraq.

"This is up to the Iraqi government to judge," he said.

Faisal also shot down the rumor that Saudi Arabia had canceled a recent White House dinner.

"That is absolutely not true," he said. "There was a visit planned, but the timing of it was not appropriate, and that was the reason for delaying it. It's not canceled, it's delayed."

He asserted there was no rift developing between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

"We are now in a healthier relationship between our two countries," Faisal said.

In 2002, Faisal told ABC's Barbara Walters that he would work to increase religious tolerance in the country and eradicate terrorism by getting rid of children's textbooks that condemned other religions.

But on her visit, Sawyer found a first-grade textbook that said every religion other than Islam was false, and a ninth-grade book about war that said Muslims would triumph. Fifteen of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Sawyer reminded Faisal.

But Faisal said that despite the texts, lessons in classrooms focused on tolerance.

"Remember, there is intolerance in every religious book. The issue is what we're doing about it. … We are preaching now in the schools openness, friendship amongst people of the faiths and understanding," he said. "We have, all of us, shortcomings that we must overcome, and one of these shortcomings is this misunderstanding that comes out of faith and religions -- that each one thinks his is the right religion."