|
Profile: Saudi Arabia Refusing To Allow U.S. Forces To Use Prince Sultan Air Base To Launch Attacks Against Iraq
Morning Edition: November 5, 2002
 Saudis Fear Regional Reaction to U.S. Strike on Iraq
BOB EDWARDS, host:
Despite its longtime alliance with the United States, Saudi Arabia insists that American forces will not be allowed to use a sophisticated air base to launch attacks against Iraq. Saudi officials say they don't want to antagonize Saudi and Muslim public opinion, which opposes a military campaign against Baghdad. Saudi analysts say the royal family has fears about how the kingdom might be affected by a US war on Iraq. From the capital, Riyadh, NPR's Kate Seelye reports.
KATE SEELYE reporting:
The topic of Iraq dominates conversation at Riyadh's coffee shops these days. Government worker Ahmed Fadhani(ph) says he hates Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein but fears the consequences of a US war to topple him.
Mr. AHMED FADHANI (Government Worker): (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `Who will be hit,' he asks, `Saddam Hussein or innocent Iraqis?'
Many ordinary Saudis say President Bush, not Saddam, is the real threat these days. A US war against Iraq, they fear, would fuel regional instability. And to members of Saudi Arabia's powerful religious establishment, any Saudi involvement in such a war would be un-Islamic. Sheik Asamed Hakim(ph) preaches the country's ultraconservative brand of Wahabi Islam.
Sheik ASAMED HAKIM: This is what we Wahabis teach. If you join forces with non-Muslims against a Muslim country, unjustly, and I quote "unjustly," then this nullifies your Islam.
SEELYE: As the guardian of Islam's holiest shrines, Saudi Arabia has to be careful not to alienate Muslim sentiment say analysts here, especially at a time of rising anti-Americanism in the region. Saudi Arabia welcomed US troops to the kingdom during the 1991 Gulf War, but officials here have said that will not be the case in the event of a new US campaign against Iraq, even if it is sanctioned by the United Nations.
In a recent interview, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal stressed the importance of solving the crisis through diplomatic means.
Foreign Minister SAUD AL-FAISAL (Saudi Arabia): We are very much appreciative of the fact that the United States has turned this issue over to the United Nations. So we think the situation is going in the right way.
SEELYE: Over the past decade, the US has spent millions to develop military facilities in Saudi Arabia. The Prince Sultan Air Base, south of Riyadh, houses a state-of-the-art command and control center. But the Pentagon has had to set up an alternative headquarters in neighboring Qatar because the Saudis have made it clear that the Prince Sultan facility won't be available in the event of a new war against Iraq. However, Waheed Hashim(ph), a columnist at Al-Okaz newspaper, says there are legitimate concerns here that Saudi support for a US campaign in Iraq would fuel radicalism. And, in any case, he adds, America doesn't really need the Prince Sultan base.
Mr. WAHEED HASHIM (Columnist, Al-Okaz): You have your warships in the Gulf. You have Incirlik base in Turkey. You have this base in Diego Garcia, so why Prince Sultan? I don't see any strategic usefulness for Prince Sultan Air Base, unless America wants to create tension and ...(unintelligible) in Saudi Arabia.
SEELYE: Some Saudi analysts see an eventual US attack on Iraq as part of a broader conspiracy by the Bush administration to impose a new order on the region. Halid Deheil(ph) is a professor of political sociology at Riyadh's King Saud University. He believes the American goal is to set up a US protectorate in Iraq, giving Washington control over Baghdad's huge oil well. Once it has an alternative to Saudi oil, says Deheil, the US will seek to undermine Saudi Arabia's political influence and autonomy.
Professor HALID DEHEIL (King Saud University): Maybe the American perceives their relationships with the Saudi as being somehow interdependent somehow; they want full dependence. And American will feel free to pressure the Saudis to take steps or policies that goes against their interests.
SEELYE: But Omar Bagor(ph), a journalist at al-Madina newspaper, says Saudi Arabia would benefit from a more moderate Iraqi leadership. He believes that if and when the US does go to war, the kingdom is very likely to cooperate on some level, as it did in the war on Afghanistan. There are few leaders in the Middle East, says Bagor, who can afford to oppose the world's superpower.
Mr. OMAR BAGOR (Al-Madina): Because the cost of not joining the US campaign against Saddam might be higher than the comfort now of just staying off the lines and watching what's happening.
SEELYE: However, adds Bagor, it would be foolish of Saudi Arabia to declare its willingness to participate in advance. After all, he says, not even the US has committed itself to a war against Iraq. Kate Seelye, NPR News, Riyadh.
EDWARDS: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
Copyright ©2002 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. For further information, please contact NPR's Permissions Coordinator at (202) 513-2000.
This transcript was created by a contractor for NPR, and NPR has not verified its accuracy. For all NPR programs, the broadcast audio should be considered the authoritative
version.
|
