Bush Meets Saudi Envoy Amid Reports on Ailing Ties

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Bush Meets Saudi Envoy Amid Reports on Ailing Ties

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US President George W. Bush on Tuesday met with Saudi ambassador to the United States to affirm the strong relationship between the two countries amid reports that bilateral ties have soured because of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Apart from bilateral relations, Bush and the ambassador, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, also discussed the Middle East conflict,the reconstruction of Afghanistan and a possible US military strike against Iraq.

The hour-long meeting was held in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is having a month-long working vacation.

Briefing reporters in Crawford, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that Bush pledged to the ambassador that he will consult with Saudi Arabia and other US allies before he makes a final decision on whether to use force to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"On the topic of Iraq, the president stressed that he has made no decisions, that he will continue to engage in consultations with Saudi Arabia and other nations about steps in the Middle East,steps in Iraq," Fleischer said.

"And the president made very clear again that he believes that Saddam Hussein is a menace to world peace, a menace to regional peace, and that the world and the region will be safer and better off without Saddam Hussein," the spokesman added.

The Bush-Bandar meeting came at a time when relations between the two countries are being questioned in the US in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Blaming Riyadh for insufficient commitment to the war against terrorism, a defense analyst from a Pentagon advisory board recently recommended that Washington should send an ultimatum to Saudi Arabia that it should stop supporting terrorism or face US retaliation.

Earlier this month, 700 relatives of September 11 victims filed law suits against the Saudi and Sudanese governments and some other institutions to seek huge amount of compensations for their beloved ones who died in the terrorist attacks.

The Saudi government has repeatedly denied any connections with terrorists, especially Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Responding to speculations that the Bush administration is planning a preemptive strike against Iraq, the Saudi government has recently made it clear that it will not allow its soil to be used in attacking Iraq.

Just hours before the meeting between Bush and Bandar, Adel el-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told US media that his country opposes military attacks against Iraq.

The Saudi official said Saudi Arabia believes that the objective to curb Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability can be achieved through UN inspections without firing a single bullet or losing a single life.

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