Okaz: Saudi intelligence denies preparing to topple Saddam Hussein

The chairman of the Saudi intelligence Prince Nawaf Bin Abdul Aziz has denied that his country had practiced pressure on Iraqi army officers to prepare for a coupe to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In a statement issued by the Saudi daily Okaz on January 18 replying to news stated by Time magazine that Saudi Arabia is pressuing Iraqi officers to arrange a military coupe to prevent the eruption of a civil war and an Iranian- Turkish military incursion into the Iraqi territories, Prince Nawaf said that all these are baseless news and Saudi Arabia will not interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq, nor have contacts with Iraqis inside or outside Iraq.

He explained that his country "should not have points of agreement with the Iraqi regime," however, hopes the Iraqi people will meet their ambitions. Prince Nawaf stressed the need that the Iraqis, including the opposition will get themselves involved in rebuilding Iraq, noting that keeping the Iraqi regime or not in an internal Iraqi matter.