BANGKOK, Thailand (EPN) -- America has not succeeded in explaining to Moslems that Washington's battle against terrorism is not "a war against Islam," the U.S. ambassador to Thailand said.

"Is the message getting through? Certainly not as well as we hope it would," U.S. Ambassador Richard Hecklinger said on Oct. 3.

"There are many groups who have a great interest, including Osama bin Laden as well as other groups, in portraying this as a war against Islam and using this as a means to not only attack U.S. interests and interests of other countries, but also to cause divisions in Moslem countries themselves.

"It's going to be used be used by the radical groups, the extreme groups, the fanatic groups against those more moderate elements of government, of society, in many nations.

"Has the word gotten through? Well, no. Is it beginning to? I certainly hope so. And that's one of our great challenges," the U.S. ambassador added.

Mr. Hecklinger, speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, also described some of the evidence against Mr. bin Laden and the al Qaeda network of suspected terrorists who are wanted in connection with the suicide pilots' attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

The assaults killed about 3,000 people and sparked an international response by Washington and other governments to capture or kill Mr. bin Laden and members of al Qaeda.

"Already there's been enough proof about the al Qaeda organization which is headed by Osama bin Laden to result in not one, but two -- now actually three -- U.N. resolutions demanding that the Taliban turn him and his colleagues over to nations which have evidence and warrants for his arrest," the U.S. ambassador said.

Two of the U.N. resolutions were issued "before the events of September 11 ever occurred. Then we have the events of September 11.

"Certainly most of the evidence being assembled now points in one direction," Mr. Hecklinger said.

"We have to, of course, develop evidence that could be used in U.S. courts, should we ever have the opportunity of putting members of this group on trial. Rules of evidence are probably more strict in the United States than in any other nation in the world.

"We are developing the linkages and they seem to be coming through quite clearly, of other types of actions planned or actual that can be attributed to this group.

Referring to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the U.S. ambassador said, "Some of this [evidence] will be publicly available, of course, for the Taliban again to see. They've already been asked by the international community to turn over Osama bin Laden. What more do they need?"

In a recently published commentary, meanwhile, British author Mark Lynas linked much of the violence by Mr. bin Laden and others to Britain's creation of Saudi Arabia as a monarchy because foreign powers wanted its oil.

"It was the British who gave a country to the obscure House of Saud, and established equally illegitimate monarchies in Jordan and Iraq -- ironically with the justification that the new Hashemite kings were direct descendents of the Prophet Mohammed" who founded Islam, Mr. Lynas wrote.

"In Saudi Arabia -- a steadfast U.S. ally with over 50 billionaire princes -- per capita income actually declined by half between 1982 and 1993. Is it any surprise therefore that the backstreets of Riyadh provide a fertile recruitment-ground for a new generation of activists against the West?

"As long as American troops continue to be stationed within spitting distance of the holiest Moslem sites of Mecca and Medina [in Saudi Arabia], potential suicide bombers from Hamas, al Qaeda and other extremist groups will remain convinced that their fast-track route to paradise is assured," Mr. Lynas wrote.

"So why has the West spent a century subverting the legitimate aspirations of an entire people? The answer can be summed up in a single word: oil," Mr. Lynas added.

The U.S. ambassador, however, said that though the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia was Mr. bin Laden's main complaint, American involvement in that country was by invitation.

"Look at the statements of Osama bin Laden himself. It's quite clear that which is top on his priority list is to get American troops or any American influence out of Saudi Arabia," Mr. Hecklinger said.

"There are American troops there because we were invited in to liberate Kuwait and protect Saudi Arabia and there's still a need, as determined by Saudi Arabia and other countries in that region, for us to help them out with protection.

"That is something Osama bin Laden cannot tolerate. He said it. So, that's one major goal, perhaps the major goal.

"Now maybe another part of that goal is to also want to unsettle some of the governments in that region."

The U.S. ambassador said a peaceful solution in the Middle East, meanwhile, would not end Mr. bin Laden's efforts to wreak havoc in America and elsewhere.

"Certainly with respect to the question of Israel and Arabs -- I would imagine that is a subsidiary goal, I think probably that's third on his list -- is to have a change in that situation.

"Yet most of the radicals on that side in this particular Middle East conflict would not rest until Israel ceases to exist."