JEDDAH, Feb 9: United States Defence Secretary William Cohen said on Sunday that he would not ask Saudi Arabia for permission to launch attacks on Iraq from Saudi soil. ``It is not my intent to make such a request because we don't think it's necessary,'' he told journalists accompanying him on his trip to Saudi Arabia.``The purpose of my discussions is to brief them on our analysis of what would be required should military action be necessary, to give them an overview of diplomacy,'' he said before heading into talks with Saudi leaders.
Cohen arrived in the eastern city of Jeddah from Germany on the first leg of a Gulf tour aimed at drumming up support for a possible US military strike against Iraq if President Saddam Hussein continues to refuse full cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.
The commander of US forces in the Gulf, General Anthony Zinni, ``has made a determination that he can carry out whatever he needs, to carry out with the forces that are now there or will be there in the foreseeablefuture in the region,'' Cohen said.
The US has massed a powerful military force in the Gulf in case of any attack against Iraq over its blocking of the work of UN arms inspectors.
The US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz left Gulf waters on Sunday after being replaced by the USS Independence, reflecting ``the commitment to maintaining a two-carrier presence in the region,'' the US Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
Cohen was meeting King Fahd, Defence Minister Sultan Ibn Abdel Aziz, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Saudi Army Chief of Staff Saleh Ibn Ali Al-Muhaya, the official news agency SPA said.
Saudi Arabia has made it clear it is reluctant to allow bases in the kingdom to be used for an attack, and just hours before Cohen's arrival the Saudi defence minister appeared to rule out Saudi support for the military option.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
