QUESTION: The Saudi Foreign Minister has rattled a lot of china here in Washington by saying that he is very distressed, "angrily frustrated," to use his words, with the Bush Administration decision not to have the President meet this weekend at the UN with Yasser Arafat. He said, "It is enough to make a sane man mad." These are very tough, blunt words from a Saudi ally. What's going on here?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I was with the Foreign Minister last night, and I can assure you he is quite sane, and has not gone mad, and he will be seeing the President this afternoon, and he can convey his views to the President.

What I do know is that Prince Saud, the Foreign Minister, is very supportive of everything that we are doing in the United States to try to move the peace process along. And he has been supportive of some of the work we have ongoing now to get the violence down to nothing, to ask the Israelis as quickly as possible, immediately, to remove their forces from Area A, and let's get back to discussions that will give us the cease-fire, get us into a state of non-belligerency so that we can get into the Mitchell peace plan, and ultimately get back to negotiations.

Anybody who works with the Middle East on any one day or another might feel the tendency to be extremely frustrated and angry and annoyed. It happens to me all the time. But we all are in this together and we are all going to move forward together to bring peace to this region.

QUESTION: The Saudis do seem very frustrated and very blunt. They don't usually speak this way. Part of it is clearly the continued reports, from inside the Administration and without, that they are not fully cooperating with this investigation. Why didn't the Saudis come forth immediately? You've got 15 out of 19 hijackers were Saudi. Why didn't the Saudis come forth immediately and try to give us names, identify the suspects, let the FBI interview their families? Why were they dragging their feet?

SECRETARY POWELL: Andrea, every day I hear the same report that the Saudis are not cooperating. They are cooperating. Everything we have asked of them, they have provided to us. Whether they have provided to us as quick as some might like, I don't know. But we are getting good cooperation. And so that story just does not go away. But we are getting good cooperation from the Saudis. They have been responsive. They are our strong friends and allies in the region, and we value the support that they have been giving to us. And as we have more requests to put before them, I expect that they will continue to cooperate in a similar manner in the future.

QUESTION: Well, it all depends on what the definition of the word "cooperation" is. But you've got FBI people in the field who have not been able to interview key members of these families.

SECRETARY POWELL: I will have to yield to the FBI as to what they have been able to interview in Saudi Arabia or not interview in Saudi Arabia. All I know is that from my perspective, and from the perspective of the President and my other colleagues who have worked this account every day, we are getting good cooperation from the Saudis.

QUESTION: Is this a case where the Saudi regime feels vulnerable because of the possibility of bin Laden's appeal to more radical people within Saudi Arabia? How vulnerable is the kingdom?

SECRETARY POWELL: It is a case that you are making, I'm not making. Obviously, they are interested in domestic unrest in the kingdom. That would not be unreasonable for them to feel that way. But remember, they are the ones who disowned bin Laden. They are the ones who said you can no longer be a Saudi citizen, and threw him off their rolls years ago. They are the ones who, since the events of the 11th of September, have cooperated with respect to the financial campaign, with respect to a lot of other things we have asked of them. They also broke diplomatic relations with the Taliban after the 11th of September incidents.

And so they are cooperating with us, and they are putting themselves at some domestic risk, but they are taking that risk. Their clerics are speaking out against bin Laden, and they have spoken out clearly about bin Laden and the evil he has committed, and the danger he presents to the civilized world, to include Saudi Arabia.

QUESTION: What would you like Yasser Arafat to do, Mr. Secretary, in order for him to get a meeting with President Bush, and is there any possibility they could have an informal meeting, one of those diplomatic dances in the hallway at the UN?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, there are no plans for a meeting over the weekend at the UN. As I do in every conversation and every meeting I have with Chairman Arafat and his people is to encourage them to do everything they possibly can to reduce the level of violence hopefully down to zero so that we can then get the Israelis to respond in an immediate fashion with respect to confidence-building measures, at removing the barriers, allowing Palestinians to get back and forth to their places of work, and getting going again into the Mitchell Plan, so that we can get back to negotiations.

QUESTION: And Mr. Secretary, just quickly, there is going to be a crucial meeting with Musharraf. He has been quoted as saying publicly that he wants a cease-fire during Ramadan. You have said that that is not possible militarily. What is the reality?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, he, of course, would like to see the air campaign, the whole campaign, over immediately. So would we all. But he understands that this campaign will have to run its course, until it has accomplished its mission. And he has said that he understands that. He hopes the mission is accomplished quickly. He knows that we may well have to continue this campaign through Ramadan. I am quite sure Usama bin Laden is not sitting over there, saying to his lieutenants, you know, fellas, Ramadan is coming; we better postpone anything we are planning to do to the United States or to Saudi Arabia or to Pakistan or any other civilized nation on the face of the earth. He is not taking a break for the Ramadan period, because he has no faith. He is an evil person and means us no good, means the civilized world no good, and I can assure you, he is out there trying to figure out ways to attack peace-loving, freedom-loving people who live in civilized nations around the world, to include the United States. And we are going to do what is necessary to go after him, and we are not going to hold back.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. We know this is a really busy time. We appreciate your joining us today.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Andrea.