The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has called his Saudi counterpart to assure him President Bush does not view his country as an emerging enemy, a State Department spokesman has said.
The call yesterday followed media coverage of a briefing by the private Rand Corporation last month for a top Pentagon advisory panel depicting the long-time US ally as a backer of terrorism.
The US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, said the account of the July 10th defence policy board briefing leaked to the Washington Post had left a "harmful" misimpression, although he did acknowledge US differences with Saudi Arabia.
"The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," the Post quoted slides prepared by Mr Laurent Murawiec as saying. "Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies," it added.
A talking point attached to the last of 24 briefing slides described Saudi Arabia as 'the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent' in the Middle East, the Post said.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the commander of US forces in the Gulf, Gen Tommy Franks, had briefed President Bush on a new plan to invade Iraq with significantly fewer than the 250,000 troops previously proposed.
Mr Scott Ritter, a former chief UN weapons inspector and opponent of the invasion plan, said he was in no doubt that the Bush administration was committed to military action. "They are not bluffing. The Bush administration is going to go to war come hell or high water," he said.
- (AFP, Reuters, Guardian service)