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State Dept. downplays Saudi base comments
From Andrea Koppel
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. State Department Monday downplayed comments by a senior Saudi official that appeared to rule out the use of Saudi air bases by the United States for an attack on Iraq. In an interview Sunday with CNN, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said his government would abide by the decision of the U.N. Security Council but added, "As to entering the conflict or using facilities ... that is something else." The State Department said that privately Saudi officials have told the Bush administration otherwise. "That's not the impression that we received from the remarks or from our subsequent conversations with the Saudis," said spokesman Richard Boucher. Saudi Arabia played a critical role in providing support bases and air support to the U.S. coalition during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. A senior State Department official added that after the CNN interview the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia received assurances from Saudi officials that the door was not closed to possible use of Saudi facilities in the event of military action against Iraq. "I would say, first of all, that we looked at the remarks and we talked to the Saudis about the remarks, and I didn't take them, frankly, to be quite as definitive as the way they've been reported, the way that you're relaying them now," Boucher said. Another State Department official pointed out that only weeks ago, in another interview with CNN, the Saudi foreign minister suggested the kingdom would be open to possible use of its facilities depending on the outcome of negotiations at the United Nations. Despite press reports to the contrary, the State Department said security cooperation with Saudi Arabia continued to be "excellent." "As you know, we are all concerned about Iraq in this region. We're all concerned about Iraq's threat and the danger of Iraqi rearmament, particularly with weapons of mass destruction. So our cooperation with Saudi Arabia on these matters has been very, very good," Boucher said. In the interview, al-Faisal said he held out hope that a military conflict could be avoided through the United Nations. "We think it is feasible. Iraq has made a very clear and unambiguous promise to the Arab countries that it will abide by the United Nations resolutions and so we think the road is set for that," he said. If the United States removes Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power, al-Faisal said Saudis are worried about U.S. occupation in the country. "History tells us that whatever change you believe you can bring to the country that you occupy, you can never make a permanent change through occupation by a foreign force in the country," he said. "Iraq is not Japan. Saddam Hussein is not the Emperor Hirohito and I don't know if the general that's going to be is going to be MacArthur." As Allied commander of Japan after World War II, U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur oversaw the occupation government of Japan from 1945 to 1951. He was in charge of rebuilding Japan and the reform of the country's political, economic and social institutions.
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