Saudi Arabia's new ambassador to Washington said on Wednesday the failure to capture Osama bin Laden only enhanced a sense of al Qaeda's invincibility and said that the group remained capable of launching attacks. Although U.S. officials have described al Qaeda as diminished after U.S.-led assaults, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief, said the group was "alive and well" and its leaders were "quite capable of issuing orders and having those orders followed."In a wide-ranging first meeting with reporters, Turki insisted Saudi Arabia would not follow suit if rival Gulf power Iran develops nuclear weapons, which Washington believes it is trying to do. Turki reaffirmed concerns that Iran was exerting "undue influence" in Iraq and expressed optimism that turmoil in Iraq would abate if a government due to be elected next week is able to prove its legitimacy to the Iraqi people.
Turki has been charged with improving Saudi relations with the United States which deteriorated after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, carried out by mostly Saudi-born hijackers. His predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, left several months ago to head Saudi Arabia's national security council after serving in Washington for more than two decades. In recent years Bandar rarely spoke with reporters on the record.