US reassured over Saudi comments on invasion bases

Financial Times
November 5, 2002
By Peter Spiegel in Washington and Robin Allen in Dubai

The US State Department said yesterday it had been privately assured by Saudi officials that recent comments by the Saudi foreign minister, in which he indicated bases in the kingdom could not be used by US troops for an invasion of Iraq, were not a definitive statement of Saudi policy. In recent weeks, the Saudis have said they would allow the US to use its bases if the UN sanctioned an attack on Iraq. But in an interview with CNN at the weekend, Prince Saud al-Faisal appeared to change that stance, saying Saudi Arabia would not allow the US to use its territory or airspace, even if the UN endorsed military action.

"We will abide by 'the decision of the United Nations Security Council," Prince Saud said. "But as for entering the conflict, or using facilities as part of the conflict, that's something else." Asked directly if "that's a 'no'," the US-educated foreign minister said, "No." In Saudi Arabia, the response was widely perceived as a rejection of US plans. "The news that Saudi Arabia has finally stood up to the Americans by saying 'No' has been greeted with glee by all sections of Saudi society," said Khaled at-Maena, editor-in-chief of the daily Arab News.

But the State Department said US diplomats did not read the remarks as a final rejection, adding that this perception was supported in private conversations with Saudi officials following the CNN broadcast.

"When we talked to the Saudis about [the remarks], they said that was not a view of what might happen," said Richard Boucher, State Department spokesman.

"That's not the impression that we received from the remarks, or from our subsequent conversation with the Saudis."

The Pentagon also sought to play down any split between the two sides. One Defense Department official noted that a number of countries had privately pledged support for a US attack on Iraq, even while making protestations publicly.

According to one senior western diplomat in the region, Prince Saud was giving a "hypothetical answer to a hypothetical question. The Saudis are not going to allow themselves to be pinned down to any particular position. You can ask them in a hundred different ways about future over-flight rights and other facilities, and they will reply with a hundred different hypotheses."

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Nieuwe Oorlog 2002 | Ander Nieuws week 46