Saudis: U.S. Must Do More

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has come to Texas with a blunt message for President Bush: put the Mideast peace process back on track, or risk the consequences of a regional conflict and spreading hatred against America.

In an interview with CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts Wednesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said the U.S. has so far been ineffective.

When asked if President Bush needs to do more to facilitate peace, he replied, "If we are to deal with this crisis and it is indeed a deep crisis, it is a dangerous crisis, everybody who can do something must do it."

Anti-American sentiment has already boiled over in the streets of even moderate Arab nations. In a letter written just this week, a group of Saudi scholars called the United States a "first rate sponsor of world terrorism," and said together with Israel it forms "an axis of terrorism and evil"

Al-Faisal said this statement, "reflects the frustration that exists there. People see that the United States supports Israel...and yet when it wants something from the United States – from Israel – it doesn't get it."

The White House argues that Arab states need to do more to defeat terrorism - and Saudi Arabia certainly needs no reminder that most of the September 11th hijackers were Saudi citizens. Yet whether hijacker or suicide bomber, Saudi Arabia says the common motivation is American policy in the Middle East. And the solution to both problems is deceptively simple.

"You remove the excuse for one and you give hope to the other in order to prevent terrorism," he explained.

Crown Prince Abdullah will again urge President Bush to move forward on the Saudi Peace proposal, which along with a series of conditions would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state.

But there is little optimism that without strong U.S. intervention anything will get done, despite Mr. Bush's stated belief that Ariel Sharon is a man of peace.

"Ariel Sharon a man of peace?" Al-Faisal questioned. "I don't even think Ariel Sharon believes that."