Bush works to get Saudis on-side

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush launched a bid yesterday to repair America's tattered relations with its main Gulf ally, Saudi Arabia, amid a barrage of fresh warnings from the Arab world about the wisdom of a United States military attack on Iraq.

In a highly unusual step, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, travelled to Bush's ranch in Texas for a day of talks on the Middle East crisis and Iraq, where Riyadh is adamantly opposed to a US strike.

The privilege of a visit to the President's personal sanctuary in Crawford had been strictly confined to a handful of Government heads, including Tony Blair and the Presidents of Russia and Mexico.

That a mere ambassador, albeit a friend of the Bush family, has joined that number, indicates how high the stakes are for both sides.

The linchpin of the US security structure in the Gulf and the chief US oil supplier, Saudi Arabia is regarded as more foe than ally in some quarters of the Government. The Saudi monarchy was especially shocked by a trillion-dollar lawsuit filed against the country by relatives of the victims of the September 11 attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi-born.

In July, a private briefing to a Pentagon advisory board described the kingdom as an enemy of the US and recommended that Washington deliver an ultimatum to Riyadh to stop backing terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and Saudi financial investments in the US.

Saudi interests reportedly pulled hundreds of billions of dollars from US financial markets in retaliation.

The tension is the culmination of years of complaints, dating from attacks in 1995 and 1996 on American bases in the kingdom, that the Saudis have been lukewarm at best in the battle against terrorism.

Hours before Prince Bandar arrived in Texas, Bush phoned the de facto Saudi leader, Crown Prince Abdullah, to assure him relations between the two countries were still strong. But the latest developments on Iraq can only widen the rift.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney yesterday presented the case for invading Iraq in the strongest terms. Citing dangers to the US, Cheney warned of the danger of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists and said: "The risk of inaction is far greater than the risk of action."

In response, a chorus of Arab leaders, led by another traditional US ally, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, spoke out against an attack, in almost apocalyptic terms.

"Striking Iraq is something that could have repercussions," Mubarak told a group of students, adding there was "no need" to attack the sanctions-hit country.

If the US took military action without some solid peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, "not one Arab leader will be able to control the angry outburst of the masses", Mubarak warned.

His views were backed by Qatar, the Gulf state where the US has been building up a base as a possible alternative command centre for a campaign against Baghdad.

The Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheik Hamad, said his country, too, opposed military strikes and would refuse the use of its bases for that purpose.

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS

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