Counter-terror cooperation marks U.S.-Saudi ties: White House

Earnest confirms Obama will veto a bill tabled in the Senate which if passed will allow 9/11 kin to sue Saudi Arabia.

U.S. President Barack Obama (left) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's King Salman at Erga Palace in Riyadh in this January 27, 2015 photo. To reports in the U.S. media that Saudi Arabia has threatened to withdraw its $750 billion investment in the U.S. if a legislation tabled in the Senate which if passed would allow victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue 'Riyadh, the White House has indicated that the President will veto such a bill.

The ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia are characterised by extensive counter-terrorism cooperation, the White House has said, moments before President Barack Obama left for the Kingdom.

“It is a relationship that is characterised by extensive counter-terrorism cooperation. That cooperation enhances our national security and makes the American people safer. The Saudi government happens to think that it enhances the national security of their country as well and makes the Saudi people safer as well. That is why we are able to cooperate,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.

To visit Saudi, U.K., Germany

Mr. Obama on Tuesday along with his top officials left White House for the Andrews Airforce Base for his six-day three-nation tour starting with Saudi Arabia. The United Kingdom and Germany are the other two countries where he will visit.

“It does not mean that there are not differences between our two countries. There are substantial differences between our two countries. And the President does not hesitate to raise his concerns about those differences as well.

“I am confident he will do that in the context of the meetings that he is preparing for later this week. I think that is the point. That is the essence of our concern and that is the essence of our proposal for how these kinds of situations can be resolved moving forward,” Mr. Earnest said.

Concerns over bill structure

The Press Secretary said Speaker of House of Representatives Paul Ryan indicated that he at least had some more concerns with the way that this bill was structured because of the consequences it could have for the U.S. relationship not just with Saudi Arabia but with countries around the world.

‘Obama will veto 9/11 bill’

Mr. Earnest was responding to a question on the opposition of the White House to a legislation tabled in the Senate which if passed would allow victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack to sue Saudi Arabia. U.S. media has reported that Saudi Arabia has threatened to withdraw its $750 billion investment in the U.S. if such legislation was passed. The White House has indicated that Mr. Obama will veto such a bill.

“I think that taking a step like this would significantly enhance the risk to the U.S. not in the context of our relationship with Saudi Arabia necessarily, but the concern that we have is much broader than that.

‘Doing business is our concern’

“Our concern is with our ability to do business in countries around the world. And sometimes it is not just related to economic business, but actually to the business of our national security, to the business of the functioning of the state — whether that relates to national security operations, or in some cases, even humanitarian operations,” Mr. Earnest added.

Mr. Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Wednesday for a summit meeting with King Salman and his fellow Gulf Arab leaders.