THE MIDDLE EAST: The United Arab Emirates is opposed to any attack on Iraq, according to the under secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Mr Saif Sadeed bin Saed. He told members of a visiting Swedish delegation that the federation also believed no new UN Security Council resolution was required to deal with the issue of Iraq's arms of mass destruction.
Mr bin Saed's statement of policy reflects the line adopted recently by the Saudi Defence Minister, Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz.
The prince said in an interview that the kingdom "will not provide any assistance in any strikes against Iraq". He told the London-based pan-Arab daily newspaper al-Hayat: "The kingdom has a special status in the Arab and Muslim worlds, as it is home to the two holy mosques [at Mecca and Medina]. It will not sacrifice this status for the sake of anyone."
He urged Baghdad "not to provide anyone with the justification to launch a military offensive" and to open its doors to the UN inspectors and to implement all UN resolutions, including those to be adopted in the future. The prince said he did not believe a US offensive against Iraq is "inevitable".
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, elaborated Prince Sultan's remarks.
"We will refuse to enter into a war against Iraq. I never said that Saudi Arabia agrees to allow the use of its territory to strike Iraq," Prince Saud said, reversing a statement he gave last month that the kingdom might co-operate if force was sanctioned by the Security Council.
If the council issued a new resolution under "article 7 of the UN charter", every country had to co- operate accordingly, but this resolution would not force every state to participate in the war and open its sky and land for use [in that war\], he added. He said Riyadh would attempt to ward off a strike against Iraq by diplomatic means.
An authoritative source in Dubai speaking off the record told The Irish Times that "no one in Washington is listening" to such statements by the friends of the US in the region. "The clique around Bush listens to no one . . . The situation is giving a big boost to bin Laden and the extremists."
The expectation was that the US could attack Iraq "in December or January . . . No one knows what will happen. The Iraqis are unpredictable, the source added. "No one knows whether the Revolutionary Guards and the army will fight or what the people will do. The Iraqis are a very tough people. They have been a tough people throughout history. That's why someone like Saddam Hussein comes to rule."
Dr Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a leading commentator in the liberal daily al-Khaleej, said: "We do not understand the threat Bush is talking about. We live a few kilometres from Iraq and we do not feel threatened. The US is 15,000 kilometres away. Washington sees Saddam Hussein as a threat, we see him as a small mouse."
Dr Abdullah said another war would be the worst option for the entire region. It has been "in constant turmoil for the last 30 years," including two major wars, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and the 1991 Gulf war, which inflicted "tremendous human and material costs" on the whole region.
"People are sick and tired of war.They want and deserve a moment of peace . . . war will destabilise and militarise the region and make it a centre of global attention and interference."