Former defense official warns against bashing Saudi Arabia

Jace Radke

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

Les Janka, who has spent more than 25 years as a Washington, D.C., insider and as an expert on the Middle East, says the Bush administration and Sen. John Kerry are making a mistake when they bash Saudi Arabia.

Janka, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Near Eastern Affairs, was in Las Vegas Wednesday to speak to the Latin Chamber of Commerce about the Council for American-Saudi Dialogue and why Saudi Arabia should be considered a friend of the United States.

"There are a lot of people in our political structure that don't want us to have good relations with the Saudis," Janka said before speaking at Texas Station. "There was a lot of Saudi-bashing following Sept. 11 because 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but I don't think it is very American to demonize an entire country for the acts of a few."

A main theme of the Michael Moore movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" is that the Bush family and the Bush administration are tied to and are protecting the Saudi royal family and oil interests in Saudi Arabia.

Janka, who is a former staff member of the National Security Council, served under Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and is now a foreign policy lobbyist and a founder of the American-Saudi Dialogue, a nonprofit organization that provides public education and information to promote stronger ties between the two countries.

Janka said his organization is a U.S. group funded by U.S. dollars. He says the group was founded by Americans who had lived and worked in Saudi Arabia and did not like how the country was being portrayed after the terror attacks.

Janka said that he thinks Osama bin Laden -- who is a Saudi -- chose mainly Saudis for the September terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to drive a wedge between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

He said that he has heard what he called reckless comments from Bush administration officials in Washington saying that once the war in Iraq is finished the U.S. should go after the Saudi royal family next. Janka also said he finds comments from Kerry that the U.S. is too reliant on Saudi oil to be irresponsible because only about 5 percent of U.S. oil supplies come from Saudi Arabia.

"There are a billion and a half Muslims who bow toward Mecca five times a day," Janka said. "If we were to replace the royal family in Saudi Arabia the extremists would come in.

"Do we really want to make Osama bin Laden the mayor of Mecca?"

Janka said that he views the war in Iraq as a mistake, but said that now that American forces are there it is imperative that the United States is successful in helping a new government to take hold there.

"The danger in the war is that it is increasing the Iranian influence in the region," Janka said. "There are two poles of influence in the region, one originating from Iran and the other from Saudi Arabia.

"The more Iraq becomes a quagmire, the more benefit there is to Iran."