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Saudis permit U.S. strikes from their soilCompiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, CAIRO -- Torn between the conservative religious leanings of its people and a desire to help in the war on terrorism, Saudi Arabia has signaled that it will permit U.S. troops and planes stationed on its soil to participate in military action against Osama bin Laden and his protectors in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing senior U.S. officials it did not name. Saudi willingness to help would constitute a major gain for the Bush administration's political and military coalition against bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant blamed for the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in New York and Washington. Not only are the Saudi bases important militarily, but visible cooperation from the fervently Islamic Saudi monarchy also would provide a welcome imprimatur in the Arab and Muslim world. Earlier Saudi misgivings about use of the kingdom's facilities had raised questions about whether it would authorize use of a state-of-the-art command center -- as planned by the Pentagon -- to direct any military action in the region. The U.S.-built center is at Prince Sultan Air Base outside Al Kharj, 70 miles southeast of Riyadh, the capital. Because of new Saudi assurances, plans to organize an alternate command center elsewhere in the Persian Gulf have been dropped, the Post reported. Prince Saud Faisal, the foreign minister, strongly indicated Saudi willingness to cooperate after meeting Wednesday with European Union officials. He said the kingdom was committed to an aggressive international campaign "not just to track down the criminals of the Sept. 11 attacks, but to exterminate the infrastructure that helps the terrorists." Faisal said that if it comes to military action, Saudi Arabia "will not avoid its duty" as part of the coalition, according to the Saudi-based Arab News. Prince Sultan Air Base already is home to about 4,000 servicemen and about 200 U.S., British and French planes, which have patrolled southern Iraq since the end of the Persian Gulf War and helped enforce economic sanctions over gulf shipping lanes. Under the Joint Task Force Southwest Asia, based on the sprawling and highly secure desert base, their mission would be expanded to participate in strikes against Afghanistan. U.S. officials, according to the Post, said the details of such strikes remain to be decided but that use of the base seems assured. The diplomacy of Arab involvement is tricky in a region where many consider Israel a terrorist state. In that environment, aid for the U.S. antiterrorism campaign must be carefully couched. The existing U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia are an illustration. Since the end of the Persian Gulf War, U.S. warplanes have taken off daily from the isolated Prince Sultan base, treating Saudis on the ground to a parade of F-15s, AWACS radar planes and other aircraft soaring north to watch over Iraq's army, take pictures and eavesdrop on conversations. When commanders order airstrikes, however, they often rely on squadrons based in Kuwait or on carriers in the Persian Gulf. This division of labor lets Saudi officials say their territory is not used to attack a neighboring Arab and Muslim country. SYRIA'S RESPONSE: The Syrian foreign minister on Thursday denounced the terror attacks on the United States as a "horrible event" and said his country supported an international effort to combat terrorism if targets were clearly defined and civilians spared. Farouk al-Sharaa also said the campaign needed to start with a careful definition of terrorism and be conducted under United Nations auspices. Syria supports several organizations that the United States labels as terrorist, but Damascus says the groups involved in the Palestinian cause are resistance organizations fighting Israeli occupation. -- Information from the Washington Post and Associated Press was used in this report.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
