Roundup: Cheney Fails to Mend Differences With Saudis Over Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, March 17, 2002

Roundup: Cheney Fails to Mend Differences With Saudis Over Iraq

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday concluded his one-day visit to Saudi Arabia and failed to mend his government's differences with Saudi leaders over the U.S. intentions on Iraq.

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U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday concluded his one-day visit to Saudi Arabia and failed to mend his government's differences with Saudi leaders over the U.S. intentions on Iraq.

Cheney, who arrived in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah late Saturday after a short stop in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, held talks with Saudi King Fahd Ibn Abdul-Aziz, Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz and other senior officials on the issues of the Middle East peace process, the Saudi initiative and the prospects of an attack on Iraq.

Saudi Arabia is the sixth stop of Cheney's 11-nation Middle East tour, which has already taken him to Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

One of Cheney's main goal is to drum up support for the "second phase" of the U.S.-led war against terrorism and to promote Washington's campaign to stop Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

However, several Arab leaders Cheney has met have expressed their opposition to any military action against Iraq.

At virtually every stop in the Arab world, Cheney has been told that an American military strike will destabilize the region.

Although Cheney and Abdullah did not tell the media what their exact opinion on Iraq is during their meeting, analysts say that Saudi Arabia, a key regional ally of the U.S., will not give the U. S. a hand in handling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Saudi officials have reiterated that they will not allow the U. S. to "fly combat missions against Iraq from Saudi bases."

The oil-rich kingdom no longer sees Hussein as a threat and throughout the Arab world there is a lot of sympathy for the plight of ordinary Iraqis under the U.N. sanctions imposed to punish Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

As for a possible U.S. attack on Iraq, Abdullah, in an interview broadcast Friday by American ABC News, said that "I do not believe it is in the United States' interests, or the region's interests, or the world's interests to do so."

"I don't believe it will achieve the desired result," he stressed. "The same applies to Iran," he added.

In his State of the Union address in January, U.S. President George W. Bush branded Iraq, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as an "axis of evil" seeking weapons of mass destruction, triggering the fear that the U.S. might target Iraq in its next phase of anti-terrorism campaign.

Shortly before Cheney's arrival, Abdullah, the kingdom's de facto ruler, warned that the U.S. cannot overthrow the Iraqi leader and that any strike against Iraq will just increase anti-U.S. feelings in the region.

In another interview with CNN in Jeddah, Abdullah stressed that it is important for Iraq to remain unified.

Both Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who met with Cheney earlier this week, have said that Saddam is close to allowing in the United Nations weapons inspectors, a step Arabs are pushing for to avert a U.S. military action.

The U.S. government, however, has indicated that merely allowing inspectors may not be enough, unless they are given full access.

Cheney's visit to Saudi Arabia comes during a period of strain in the U.S.-Saudi relations after the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. last year, which was blamed by Washington on Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. has accused the kingdom of not doing enough to help combat terrorism, and Riyadh has repeatedly criticized Washington for being partial to Israel in the Middle East conflict.

However, despite disagreements over Iraq, the U.S.-Saudi relationship has clearly improved in the past few weeks.

President Bush has praised the Saudi initiative aimed at reaching peace in the Middle East, floated by Abdullah in the New York Times on February 17.

The Saudi proposal offers Israel peace with Arab states in exchange for its withdrawal to its pre-1967 Middle East War borders and has been welcomed by the international community.

Abdullah also said that he envisioned "normal relations" with Israel, including the exchange of ambassadors and trade.

He added that most Arab countries, including Syria, had agreed to his proposal, which is expected to be discussed by Arab leaders during the upcoming Arab summit to be held in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 27-28.

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