RIYADH/WASHINGTON, 23 January 2003 — The Kingdom said yesterday that there was no pressing need for a war on Iraq. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal’s remarks followed strong opposition by France and Germany to any war on Iraq. Both European states said everything should be made to avoid war. “We do not see any pressing need for military action or to set a particular date (for war)...the focus should be on finding a peaceful solution which would spare us a great deal,” Prince Saud told a news conference. “We are still hopeful that the current diplomatic efforts will lead to a peaceful solution,” he said on the eve of a regional ministerial meeting in Turkey.
Prince Saud said Arab states should be given a chance to try to resolve the crisis peacefully even if the United Nations authorizes military action. “Should the UN reach a decision to use force, we hope that there would be a grace period left for the Arab countries to intervene and resolve the crisis peacefully,” he said.
Turkey said it would host the meeting of the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Iran and Syria in Istanbul today.
Prince Saud denied reports that the meeting would discuss exile for President Saddam Hussein as a way to avert war. He said the talks would be dedicated to “finding a way to handle the crisis without resorting to war”.
Prince Saud said the Kingdom had made arrangements to deal with any possible influx of refugees from Iraq. “But we hope that nothing would happen to our Iraqi brothers. All neighbors are taking actions and precautions,” he added.
Earlier, France and Germany vowed to work together to prevent a US-led war and lead a European Union consensus in favor of a peaceful solution to the crisis over Baghdad’s alleged weapons programs.
French President Jacques Chirac said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that “Germany and France have the same judgment on the Iraq crisis” and that the two felt “everything must be done to avoid war”. The comments followed warnings from French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin this week that France might use its veto in the UN Security Council to block a resolution backing a US-led war.
Schroeder has said bluntly that his country — which joined the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member this month — would vote against a resolution for war.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed annoyance with the hard line adopted by the two European allies. Speaking to reporters from US regional newspapers, Powell said remarks about Iraq from his French and German counterparts at the United Nations had hindered the international effort to disarm Baghdad.
He said the French and Germans appeared to be pre-judging a Jan. 27 report to the Security Council by the inspectors by deciding in advance that the inspections were working and should be allowed to go on.
He also said that Iraq’s oil would be held for the country’s people in the event of a war and subsequent US occupation of the country. He said Washington was studying what to do with the Iraqi oil industry in the event of occupation but said no conclusions had yet been reached.
“If there is a conflict with Iraq and we and the leadership of the coalition take control of Iraq, the oil of Iraq belongs to the Iraqi people. Whatever form of custodianship there is, initially in the hands of the power that went in, or under international auspices at some point, it will be held for and used for the people of Iraq,” Powell said. “It will not be exploited for the United States’ own purpose.”
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the United States can sustain a major force around Iraq for several months and is ready to fight even in hot weather. As the US military stepped up its mobilization to the Gulf, Gen. Myers told reporters the question of how long a large force could be maintained in the region was the subject of close analysis. “My estimate is we can do that for some time — several months, no problem.”
President Bush on his part warned the Iraqi military they would be prosecuted as war criminals if they used chemical or biological weapons on US troops in the event of war. “There’ll be serious consequences for any general or soldier who were to use weapons of mass destruction on our troops or innocent lives within Iraq,” Bush said in a speech in St. Louis.
Iraq said yesterday it had shot down an unmanned US Predator aircraft that entered its airspace from Kuwait. A spokesman for US Central Command said no Predators — or any other aircraft operating in the region — were known to have gone missing.
As UN inspections continued in Iraq, an imam said weapons inspectors had searched his mosque in Baghdad this week. “The strange thing is that the questions raised by the five inspectors had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction,” Qutaiba Ammash, imam of Al-Nidaa Mosque, told reporters. “They asked questions about the size of the mosque and even the number of worshipers at Friday prayers.”
