Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: We won’t be bought

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 9:20 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WHEN YOUR CITY and state needs $54 billion to rebuild from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, would you look a $10 million gift horse in the mouth?

New York's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani did, and I am proud of him for doing the right thing. For a number of very good reasons that go back almost 20 years, long before there was even a thought of a Mayor Rudy, there has been a wide credibility and honorability gap such that my respect for Rudy could never climb much above zero. While I still believe in all those good reasons and in the great divide that still separates us, I am fully cognizant of the over-the-top job he has done as mayor of the Big Apple.

Term limits notwithstanding, what he has done to lead the people of his city, his state and our nation toward a better purpose as Americans is one for the books. Since New Yorkers fell prey like Nevadans to the emotional side of the term limits argument and paid no heed to rationality, the man most New Yorkers want to continue doing the job, plain and simply can't. Not for two years, not for three months, not for a day.

But what he can do and continues to do on a daily basis is act as a light unto the unenlightened -- that means the candidates for Gracie Mansion's next inhabitants -- about how to conduct one's self when holding a position of leadership. And that is to tell it like it is and not try to rationalize the irrational.

There have been a great number of foreign visitors to ground zero at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center. Each of them has come away with the same awful and empty feeling that reaches into their innermost being and twists and turns them inside out until reason no longer holds. Some of them have prayed, some have offered to help remove the wreckage and joined in the search for survivors, and some have written checks to help alleviate the pain and suffering of the families of the victims of that ugly day.

One of the people who was very generous in his financial assistance is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia. He was so moved that he handed Mayor Rudy a check for $10 million. The prince is the chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company and one of the richest men in the world. He could have written that check with three more zeroes behind it and never missed a beat, but the outcome would have been the same.

Giuliani accepted the check, which came with a letter expressing the prince's condolences for "the loss of life that the city of New York has suffered." The letter added, "I would also like to condemn all forms of terrorism and in doing so I am reiterating Saudi Arabia's strong stance against these tragic and horrendous acts." How nice and how meaningful.

What the letter didn't say, though, was what a press release announcing the gift did. "However, at times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack." The press release explained that the United States should re-examine its Middle East policy and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause. The prince stressed that, "Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek."

When the good mayor heard those words, he became annoyed. "I entirely reject that statement. That is totally contrary to what I said at the United Nations ... 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 when they slaughtered 4,000 to 5,000 innocent people. And to suggest that there's a justification for it only invites this happening in the future. It is highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous."

Then he sent the check back.

Good for Rudy. What he did was unequivocal in rejecting any argument for justifying the acts of murder against innocent civilians. Even when the argument comes from our "friends," the Saudis.

This little incident points to a problem that our president, George W. Bush, will most likely have to face as the war to eradicate the terrorists and terrorism presses on. At some point he will have to look our "friends" in the eye and send their check back because they have been playing us for fools for a very long time. While they profess fealty and let their oil flow our way, they have also been paying far too handsomely some of the very terrorist bums who are now preying on innocent Americans. When the president puts that sign-up sheet in front of them they will have to make a choice. Do they go forward into this century as a good and loyal friend of the United States or do they pay us lip service while they finance the murdering cowards whose only goal in life is to kill us?

Mayor Giuliani's reaction to the Saudi prince's speaking from both sides of his mouth reminded me of another bit of despicability that occurred right here in Las Vegas the day of the Trade Center disaster. It points out the irreconcilable dichotomy of Saudi political life and the differences between fair dealing in the Western world and double dealing in the world of the Middle East.

On Sept. 11 there was a large contingent of well-placed Saudi Arabians in our city, ostensibly to study the difference in customs that exist between our two countries. When pictures of those planes flashed over and over across our television screens that fateful morning, two very different reactions took place amongst the Saudi contingent. One group, fearing that a terrorist attack on America might also mean one would be launched against them, took refuge in their hotel and sought a double dose of security for themselves and their party.

What did the other group of Saudi Arabian big shots do? They ordered champagne and toasted the day away. Of course, they excused their behavior as an untimely pursuit of a birthday celebration, but how many other people do you know who celebrated that day with champagne? Besides bin Laden and his colleagues, I mean?

The point should be clear. Oil money must never be allowed to buy the friendship of the United States when that same money is buying guns, bombs and other arms designed to destroy Americans and our friends. I don't believe President Bush, when faced with that question, will answer it any differently than his friend in New York, Mayor Giuliani, did.

If our friends, the Saudis, don't change their double-dealing ways by the time President Bush pops the big question, he should send back their check. And a little something else to boot.

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