December 31, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 26, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

WASHINGTON, Dec 30: Senator Joseph Lieberman said on Monday that he had warned Saudi Arabian leaders that a failure to support US military action in Iraq would further strain US-Saudi relations.

The warning follows statements by Saudi officials that the kingdom has not yet given any assurance to the United States that it will support the American attack on Iraq.

Lieberman, a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination for the president in the 2004 election, was winding up a 10-day tour of the region which included talks with several Arab and Israeli leaders, as well as with US troops stationed in the Gulf.

“I tried to make it clear to the Saudis ... that if we need to go to war on Iraq and the Saudis appear not to be giving us the support for our military that we need, it will very badly affect our relationship,” said Lieberman, who visited Saudi Arabia last week.

“If they do give us that support it will go a long way toward repairing any breaches that may have occurred in the last year ... I left feeling that the Saudis will not disappoint us,” he said during a meeting with Amram Mitzna, the leader of Israel’s Labour Party.

Pentagon officials have said that Saudi Arabia has privately assured Washington they could launch air support missions from Saudi bases in the event of a conflict with Iraq and could coordinate the air war from a central command post near the Saudi capital.

US-Saudi relations have been strained since the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Most of the hijackers who commandeered the jets were Saudi citizens. During the 1991 Gulf War, Washington used Saudi bases to launch attacks on Iraq.

However, two top Saudi officials expressed surprise at the Pentagon statements on Monday.

“The truth is what I said, not what the newspaper reported,” he said.

“Even if the Security Council issues a unanimous decision to attack Iraq, we hope a chance will be given to the Arab states to find a political solution to this issue,” Prince Saud said during a visit to Sudan.

Also, Saudi newspapers carried a denial of the story — first reported in The New York Times — by Deputy Defence Minister Prince Abdul-Rahman bin Abdul-Aziz.

“These remarks are incorrect and the kingdom’s stance has been clear from the start...We have no commitments on any matters towards Iraq,” said Prince Abdul-Rahman in a statement published in the daily Okaz.