THE

 

DEFENSEPENTAGONWASHINGTON

DC

20301 1000

October

6 2 1

MEMORANDUM

FOR

THE

PRESIDENT

CC

Subject:VicePresidentRichard

B

CheneyHonorableColinPowellHonorableCondoleezzaRice

My

VisitstoSaudiArabia Oman Egypt UzbekistanandTurkey

Saudi rabia October

 

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Oman October4

SultanQaboosreceivedus

in

anopentent

in

themiddle

of

averyhotandhumiddesert.HevowedcontinuedsupportforUSeffortsagainstterrorism,stressingthatOmanispleasedtoassistdiscretely,butwholeheartedly.Omanhasbeeneasy

to

work

w t

comparedwithmostother

Gulf

states.Hereferred

in

passingtothoseintheregionwhoarefriendswhentheyneedassistance,butnotwhenthe

 

requestsassistance hypocrites, hecalledthem).

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Qaboos-thoughtful,Britisheducated,soft-spoken-focusedontheneedtotransfonnthemora]climate

as

toterrorism.Heurgedmeto hint

to

theEgyptiansthattheirleadingclericsshouldbemorevocalaboutIslamicprohibitionsagainstkillinginnocentpeople,becausethatcouldchangethewayyoungMoslemsthinkaboutthemorality

of

terroristacts.Notingthatterrorists live

in

shadowandplan

in

darkness, heaskedhowwecan preventthesepeoplefromhavingfacilitiesandfundstodotheirevilwork. Hesaidthe

 

effortagainstthemwilltaketime,but

if

it

is

sust ine

-hestressedthekeyword-perhapswe llseeagreatdecline

in

theseactivities.Thistragedy,Qaboosobserved,canbe

an

importantopportunity.PerhapsGodhasarrangedthat

it

happened,

in

thisway,atthistime,topreventevenworsethingsfromhappening

in

thefuture.Perhapsbecause

of

thistragicwarning,wewillhave

an

opportunitytopreventweapons

of

massdestructionfrombeingusedbyterrorists.HesaidthatIslamicterroristsaim

to

overthrowgovernmentssuch

as

histocreateanIslamicKbalifate-religiousrule

by

asingle Deputy

of

Allah overthewholeMoslemworld.Omanrejectsthis,hesaid,asacountryproud

of

itslongindependence.QaboostookpainstonotethatOmanwasneverpart

of

theOttomanEmpire.OmankeptitsindependenceforafewhundredyearsbylinkingitselftotheleadingWesternpower(Britainthen,theUSnow)toprotectitselfagainsttheSaudis,Persians,andotherstrongneighbors.Thelastpointwas,]think,hisimpliedmessagewhenhespoke

of

doingallhecantohelpthe

 

inthewaragainstterrorism.QaboosrepeatedlyreturnedtotheproblemscausedbyArabmediareports,

in

particularfromtheal-Jaziratelevisionstation,thatpromotetheterrorists point

of

view.HeurgedtheUStohighlightthehumanitarianaidaspects

of

ourcampaignandtorefrainfromactionduringRamadan.Hesummarizedhisviewssuccinctly:

 We

trustyou.We reallies.Ihavenothingelsetoadd.

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