Congress Subpoenas Saudi Arabia PR Records

"The House Committee on Government Reform, which is investigating reports of American children kidnaped and held in Saudi Arabia, has issued subpoenas to the Kingdom's top lobbying firms Qorvis Communications, Patton Boggs and the Gallagher Group demanding they turn over their PR and lobbying records," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "The Saudi Embassy claims those documents are protected under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as 'archives and documents of the mission.'" Committee head Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) rejects that argument, noting that the Vienna Convention is "intended to protect foreign diplomats but has no application to American citizens 'who choose to sell their services as public relations/lobbying mouthpieces for foreign interests,'" O'Dwyer's reports. Saudi Arabia has spent more than $3 million to shape US opinion concerning the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of Saudi Arabia's Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is accused of providing money to al-Qaida. In response, the princess says, "all I wanted to do was to give some help to someone in need."