[red]Burn[/red] Abdula.. [red]Burn[/red]

By Donna Abu-Nasr
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, August 7, 2002; 9:57 AM

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia –– Saudi Arabia has made clear to Washington – publicly and privately – that the U.S. military will not be allowed to use the kingdom's soil in any way for an attack on Iraq, Foreign Minister Prince Saud said Wednesday.

Saud said in an interview with The Associated Press that his country opposes any U.S. operation against Iraq "because we believe it is not needed, especially now that Iraq is moving to implement United Nations resolutions."

"We have told them we don't (want) them to use Saudi grounds" for any attack on Iraq, he said.

Saudi Arabia has no objections to the United States continuing its decade-old monitoring of Iraqi skies from the U.S. air control center in the kingdom, Saud said.

But a change in the regime of President Saddam Hussein must come from the Iraqi people, he said. "For the government of Iraq, the leadership of Iraq, any change that happens there has to come from the Iraqi people. This is our attitude," Saud said.

Last week, Iraq invited U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad for talks that could lead to a resumption of the inspections after more than 3½ years. President Bush has said he is committed to a regime change in Iraq and war rhetoric is running high. Washington has dismissed the Blix invitation as a ploy.

[red]Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops for the 1991 Gulf War to help defend the oil-rich nation against Iraqi forces[/red].

Actually no.. I knew back in 1985-86 when I was there on a construction project.