Giuliani to Saudi Prince: Stick It

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/12/2001 at 01:59 PM EDT

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has returned a $10 million check presented to the beleaguered city by a Saudi prince who said U.S. policies were partly to blame for the World Trade Center attack. During his visit to the wreckage Thursday, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal called the Sept. 11 terrorist attack "a tremendous crime" and said the suspected mastermind, Osama bin Laden, "does not belong to Islam," he said. "We are here to tell America and to tell New York that Saudi Arabia is with the United States wholeheartedly." But in a written statement handed out by his publicist, the prince said: "At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause." Giuliani, who had attended a memorial service with Alwaleed and accepted his $10 million offer to help victims' families, had a typical Giuliani response -- a harsh one -- when he learned about the statement. "There is no moral equivalent for this attack," Giuliani said. "The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification when they slaughtered 5,000, 6,000 innocent people. Not only are those statements wrong, they're part of the problem." Sunny Mindel, the mayor's communications director, told the Associated Press: "We are not going to accept the check -- period."