Look here - King Abdullah

There is something about King Abdullah which I would like to share it with you. It was taken from Yahoo news.

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By Kate Kelland and Sophie Walker Reuters - Monday, October 29 05:14 pm

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain failed to act on information passed to it by Saudi Arabia which might have helped prevent suicide bombings in London in 2005 that killed 52 people, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said on Monday.
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In an interview with the BBC before a state visit to Britain, King Abdullah accused London of failing to do enough to combat international terrorism.

"We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy."

A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said no warnings were received before the July 7 attacks on London's transport system: "We made it very clear at the time that no specific warnings were received from any source."

"We do have a very close intelligence relationship with the Saudis," he added. "We just happen to disagree on this point."

King Abdullah arrived in Britain on Monday for a state visit. His visit has prompted protests from critics of the Saudi government's human rights record and demonstrations are planned outside the Saudi embassy in London later this week.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband pulled out of a conference on Monday where he had been scheduled to speak alongside Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Officials said he cancelled because he was taking leave after adopting a second child, and denied any suggestion that the move was a snub to the Saudi government. Junior foreign office minister Kim Howells, who spoke instead of Miliband, said the two nations were working together to tackle terrorism.

"20 TO 30 YEARS TO DEFEAT TERRORISM"

A report by parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee in May 2006 said the information passed on by Saudi Arabian authorities was "materially different from what actually occurred on 7 July and clearly not relevant to these attacks."

A British security source said information provided by Saudi Arabia had not been detailed enough to be of practical use.

"It was too general, and ... very similar to quite a lot of information that comes our way, i.e. that there are people who are interested in attacking London, etc, etc," the source said.

Asked if the Saudi tip-off had produced investigative leads of any kind, the source said: "It was threat information, but of such a general nature that it wasn't actionable."

King Abdullah said in his interview that most countries -- including Britain -- did not view terrorism seriously enough.

"It will take 20 to 30 years to defeat the scourge of terrorism with vigilant effort," he said. "And I strongly urge all countries in the world, including Great Britain, to take the matter of fighting terrorism very, very seriously."

The Saudi government has said that about 3,000 people are in detention out of a total of 9,000 arrested since Islamist militants allied to al Qaeda launched a violent campaign in May 2003 to topple the U.S.-allied monarchy and expel foreigners.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers who carried out the attacks on U.S. cities in 2001 were Saudis.

Vince Cable, acting leader of Britain's third largest party the Liberal Democrats, said he would boycott a banquet for the Saudi king to be held by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

"The human rights record of this government is absolutely appalling," he told BBC radio.

A Foreign Office official said Britain regularly talked to Saudi Arabia about human rights matters but added: "There are no specific human rights issues that we expect to dominate the next two days."