342. Telegram From the Embassy in Saudi Arabia to the Department of State1
1078. Subject: (S) Fahd Threatens Retaliation for Renewed Egyptian Media Attacks. Ref: Cairo 3428.2
1. (S-entire text)
2. Summary: Continued Egyptian attacks on Saudi Arabia, particularly royal family, have brought Saudi restraint and patience to breaking point. Crown Prince Fahd has warned that attacks can no longer be ignored, and, if continued, will result in actions which can only further widen breach between GOE and SAG. End summary.
3. We would appreciate Embassy Cairo forwarding by immediate cable full text of February 14 attack on Saudis, cited in paragraph 6 of reftel.3
4. We are concerned that this latest attack may well provoke strong Saudi response which would be extremely damaging to already tattered GOE–SAG relationship.
[Page 1101]5. Crown Prince Fahd telephoned Special Counselor Isa Sabbagh afternoon of February 12 requesting that Ambassador tell President Carter that Saudi patience and restraint were wearing out in view of continued attacks by President Sadat and Egyptian press on members of the royal family, specifically the King and Crown Prince. In fact, one attack, by innuendo, retells the late King Faysal’s assassination in such a way as to incite, in the words of Fahd, a similar crime against the present King.
6. Article referred to in reftel therefore assumes special significance, especially that portion charging Fahd with conspiracy to depose King Khalid. Fahd’s conversation continued as follows: “His Majesty King Khalid several times every day asks me why don’t we respond in kind. Are we afraid of anything or anybody? Can’t we frankly go ahead and destroy him (Sadat) morally and informationally?” Fahd added that SAG had refrained for two reasons: first, “our own good manners, and, secondly, our friend President Carter’s constant urging and advice not to retaliate.”
7. Fahd then said he was having difficulty restraining answers which would not necessarily be given by members of the royal family. He also stated that the responses may well include attacks of an extremely personal and scandalous nature on President and Mrs. Sadat. He concluded by requesting that Ambassador inform President Carter that unless these attacks ceased, especially those involving personal attacks on the royal family, he could no longer keep “the friends of Saudi Arabia” from responding in kind, although he personally did not want members of the royal family to “come down to the gutter of recrimination.” He concluded with the Arabic phrase, translated, that (for the U.S.) “forewarned is forearmed.”
8. Ambassador’s comment: I was out of the Kingdom at the time Fahd passed this message, but I am not surprised at the continuing pressure on Fahd to allow some answer to be made to the Egyptian attacks. King Khalid has expressed, on at least one occasion, his strong personal feelings about the Egyptians. Accusations that Fahd and Abdallah have been plotting to overthrow him are bound to be disturbing to him in his present state of mind.
9. The answers which would probably appear in the Saudi press and otherwise would probably include revelations that Mrs. Sadat was involved with the Arab arms industry. (It was rumored that she held a ten percent interest therein.) Fahd, in his conversation with Sabbagh, referred to information furnished by Ashraf Marwan, the now deposed head of Arab arms. Saudi principal in this venture was Kamal Adham, now out of favor here. We are afraid to estimate the amount and extent of rumors which may well be published growing out of the Marwan-Adham departures from their respective governments under less than favorable circumstances, all reflecting unfavorably on Sadat.
[Page 1102]10. In order to buy time, short though it be, we are indicating to Fahd that we are reviewing in detail all of the recent attacks both by Sadat and the Egyptian press on SAG and the royal family. For that reason, we need texts of article referred to in reftel as well as such other attacks of recent vintage (the Saudis monitor all and we are asking them likewise for the information which they have).
11. In the meantime, continuation of Sadat’s attacks and resulting retaliation would be harmful to all concerned. It would push Saudis closer to those Arabs who want to punish Sadat and his supporters. Saudi Arabia would also find it increasingly difficult to caution even the slightest restraint in anti-Sadat moves and would be more vulnerable to pressure from other Arabs to exert influence on Sudan and Somalia to put greater distance between them and Sadat. It would also make it far more difficult to count on Saudi assistance when it will be needed to help reintegrate Egypt into the Arab world.
12. Sadat is doing himself tremendous damage and we think that intervention by the President through a personal plea to Sadat to stop further attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Saudi leadership may be the only way to avoid a regional crisis also affecting U.S.-Saudi relations.
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Country File, Box 68, Saudi Arabia: 2/80. Secret; Immediate; Exdis. Sent for information Immediate to Cairo. Sent for information to Riyadh. Printed from a copy that indicates the original was received in the White House Situation Room. The telegram was found attached to a February 19 memorandum from Brzezinski to Vance, signed by Aaron, stating that Carter had read the telegram and had responded to West’s suggestion that Carter send a “personal plea” to Sadat to “stop further attacks” by commenting, “Let Atherton see Sadat.”↩
- Telegram 3428 from Cairo, February 14, conveyed, as part of the Embassy’s daily Cairo press review, a report of an open letter to Khalid which appeared in the February 14 edition of the Egyptian newspaper Al Mussawar. The letter accused Fahd of “conspiring with Prince Abdullah to depose King Khalid” and of having a “penchant for gambling in European casinos.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800079–0942)↩
- Telegram 3785 from Cairo, February 19, conveyed the complete text of the Al Mussawar letter. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800088–0701)↩