February 5, 2003	Wednesday	Zul Hijjah 3,1423

RIYADH, Feb 4: Saudi Arabia, which opposes a US-led invasion of Iraq, said on Tuesday that a balanced approach to the Middle East conflict would better serve Washington’s “campaign against terror” than an attack on Baghdad.

Defence Minister Prince Sultan also said Saudi Arabia was employing prudence and reason to counter militancy in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

“The breach to U.S. might by the Sept 11 attacks cannot be repaired through war but through positive and even-handed actions which guarantee human rights and which eliminate terrorism and its causes,” he told Saudi armed forces, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“All that we ask from the big powers, particularly the United States, is for them to be even-handed in their actions,” he said in the speech.

Saudi Arabia is pushing for a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis, nervous about a conflict next door as this would force it to cope with domestic anger at the United States over Washington’s strong support for Israel as well as likely U.S. demands for military cooperation.

Riyadh has said it wants to see proof that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.—Reuters