French and US position on Iraq and Gulf states' double-speak

The French daily Liberation said on Tuesday that the Arab Gulf states are in a real mess. They criticize the US raids on Iraq and at the same time are still linked to Washington.

In its Tuesday's issue, the French paper added that US Defense Secretary William Cohen and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine recently visited the region. Cohen came to defend the continued US air strikes on Iraq, whereas Vedrine came to propose a political alternative to the strikes and criticized the air bombardment against Iraq, the paper reported.

The French daily added that the alternative proposed by Vedrine to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwaitis embodied in monitoring the Iraqi armaments, lifting the oil embargo and controlling the Iraqi financial resources, noting that during his visit to the region Cohen saber rattling and did not agree French thoughts which were welcomed in Abu Dhabi and Doha.

The French paper indicated that at a time when King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia announced when he met with Cohen that it is his duty to "support and back the US" and this pleases him. Following the visit of Cohen the Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz said that "he has no relation with the bombardment on Iraq and that this bombardment is an American matter."

The paper holds the view that all the countries of the Gulf except Kuwait speak in double language, "They don't openly oppose the US but do let the press pour all its anger on the US."

The paper indicated that the Emir of Qatar and his senior aids strongly criticize the US, but at the same time, Qatari has become the largest US base outside the US. This base of Qatar is a sort of warplane carier amid the Gulf region.