CBS Evening News (6:30 PM ET) August 7, 2002
Saudi Arabia denies US use of its bases to launch a war against Iraq
SCOTT PELLEY, anchor: If the United States goes to war in Iraq, there will be no help from Saudi Arabia. The kingdom said today that it would not allow US forces to use its bases or other facilities in a war on Saddam Hussein. It was only 11 years ago that US forces fought and died to push Iraqi troops out of the Saudi kingdom and then out of Kuwait. Here's correspondent David Martin. DAVID MARTIN reporting:
With Saddam Hussein and the United States seemingly on a collision course toward a final battle, President Bush today tried to reassure the public there will be no rush to war.
President GEORGE W. BUSH: I w--promise you that I am--will be patient and deliberate, that we will continue to consult with Congress. And of course we'll consult with our friends and allies.
DAVID MARTIN: One important friend, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, today said his country will not allow its territory to be used for an attack on Iraq. Saudi bases were the linchpin of the 1991 war against Iraq, but military officers say those bases would not be as critical this time 'round.
 Al Udeid Airbase, Qatar Picture of the Week |
Still, Saudi Arabia is important because it wields so much influence over the rest of the Persian Gulf. Administration officials believe they will get the Saudi support if they can convince them this time wi--really will be the end of Saddam.
Saddam's stockpile of chemical and biological weapons and the chance he might give them to terrorists have been cited as the primary justification for removing him from power. Today Vice President Cheney raised another specter.
Vice President DICK CHENEY: Left to his own devices it's the judgment of many of us that in the not-too-distant future he will acquire nuclear weapons.
MARTIN: The CIA estimates Iraq is still several years away from having a nuclear weapon, but that's what it said back in 1990 and it was badly mistaken. We now know that had it not been for the Gulf War, Saddam was only a year away from going nuclear. The 9/11 attacks convinced the Bush administration that is a mistake the US cannot afford to make again. David Martin, CBS News, the Pentagon.
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