Saudi Arabia vows to have no part in war against Iraq

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will have no part in a war against Iraq," Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal said yesterday in an interview on CNN. The Prince conveyed in no uncertain terms Saudi Arabia's stance on a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi crisis, saying that Saudi Arabia is not sharing efforts in the build-up to a possible war, and that no attack against Iraq would be launched from Saudi soil.

In another interview at Sharm el-Sheikh, Prince Saud quashed rumours about supplying fuel to US fighter aircraft.

On whether Iraq cooperated with international weapons inspectors during the past few months, the Prince said: Indications show that Iraq is cooperating and Saudi Arabia is confident about reports submitted to Security Council" from weapons inspectors.

He went to say that Iraq should comply to whatever is demanded of it and adopt a policy of transparency, he added.

"It is up to Iraq to show that it possesses no weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Otherwise, Iraq should come clean, admit the truth, and subject itself to the authority of the UN Security Council by complying with all previous resolutions, not just Resolution 1441," he said.

As for declarations by George W. Bush on regime change in Iraq and disarming the country of its WMD stocks, the Prince said that such sentiments and actions would not do much to further the cause of Palestinian-Israeli peace.

"The Arab-Israeli conflict erupted more than half a century ago. If we are thinking of a solution, we should be looking at toppling Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and not Iraqi President Saddam Hussein," he said.

"In this case, the interests of the peace process would be better served because the Sharon government has been an obstacle to Middle East peace," he explained.