RIYADH, 2 April 2003 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal has urged Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to make a war-ending “sacrifice” for his people.
“Since Saddam has asked his people to sacrifice for the country... he should be the first to sacrifice for his country,” the prince said in an interview with ABC News, aired late Monday.
Prince Saud made the comments to correspondent Barbara Walters who asked him whether the Iraqi leader had to be removed from power.
The Saudi minister later clarified that he did not call on the Iraqi president to step down, but only advised him to make a “sacrifice” if that was the only way of ending the on-going conflict.
“What I said was that if the only thing that can resolve the situation in Iraq is a sacrifice from President Saddam Hussein, and since he is asking all Iraqis to sacrifice their lives for their country, the least expected of him is to do the same,” Prince Saud told reporters in Riyadh.
If the only thing that can stop the US-British campaign launched on March 20 is a “sacrifice” from the Iraqi leader, then “he should listen to his own advice,” Prince Saud said, adding it was not too late to do so.
Last month, Arab leaders declined to endorse a proposal from the United Arab Emirates for Saddam to step down and leave the country to avoid war.
The Iraqis later refused to accept an Arab League delegation after reports circulated that the members would raise the possibility of Saddam going into exile to avert war.
Prince Saud also said yesterday that Saudi Arabia had not allowed the United States use of its airspace for missile launches targeting Iraq.
The Saudi chief diplomat also denied that the United States had been using an advanced command and control system at Prince Sultan Air Base in Kharj, 80 km south of Riyadh, to direct the war against Iraq.
“Targeting Iraq is not done from Prince Sultan Air Base. The only duty given to the US troops (there) is to enforce the no-fly zone over (southern) Iraq,” he said.
Prince Saud also denied the Kingdom had granted permission for the United States to fire cruise missiles over its airspace, saying “there was no permission asked and none given.”
Saudi Arabia said Saturday it had protested to the United States after four sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles fired on Iraq went astray and crashed in the Kingdom.
Prince Saud said the missile misfires will not affect Saudi-US relations. “I don’t think the fall of the missiles was a message. Our relations with the US do not need any missile message. They can give us clear message,” he said.
He reiterated the need to stop the war immediately to avoid further human tragedies, and warned the conflict could spill over into other parts of the volatile Middle East region.
“We reiterate our rejection of the war and the military occupation of Iraq. We insist that the fate of Iraq must be determined by the Iraqi people” of their own free will, he said.
On Saudi peace proposals announced last week, Prince Saud said: “We have ideas and proposals, (but) unless both sides agree to a cease-fire... we cannot proceed further,” he said.
In his ABC interview, Prince Saud called for a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi crisis. “This war can only lead to strife, to bloodshed and to increased hatred, and increased... anxieties in the region,” he said.
“Perhaps this is a good time to stop, take a breath, and allow for diplomacy to work,” he added.
Prince Saud repeated his call for a cease-fire in Iraq.
“We have called for cease-fire because we are for peace and we believe that the interests of the United States will be served through peace, not war.”
Prince Saud strongly criticized the advocates of war in Washington. “We have seen that at this moment of war, of crisis... advisers claiming war would only bring benefit,” he said.
“These prognosticators, when the United States needs friends everywhere, have gone so far as to try to convince the American public that their friends are enemies. This is a time for reckoning. This is a time to show who the real friend and who the real enemy is,” the prince said.
He said the Kingdom welcomed UN Security Council Resolution 1472 allowing resumption of oil for food and medicine program, and hoped that it would help alleviate the suffering of Iraqi people.
