Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was to kick off a tour Wednesday to rally military and diplomatic backing for US strikes against Afghanistan, but he faces a fight in Saudi Arabia, which refuses to engage in a war on fellow Muslims.
Rumsfeld, whose tour will also take in Oman, Egypt and Uzbekistan, said his message would vary from country to country and that he hoped to visit US troops stationed in the region.
The trip comes as the US military in southwest Asia has swollen to around 30,000 personnel over the past two weeks but amid categorical Saudi denials that US forces would be allowed to launch strikes on Muslims from the kingdom's soil.
Saudi Arabia, the United States' main ally in the strategic Gulf region, would "not accept the presence of any [foreign] troops on its territory to fight Arabs and Muslims," Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz has warned.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz also ruled out Sunday any logistical support for a US military campaign, but indicated air corridors will likely be provided in line with international regulations.
With 1.2 billion Muslims claiming the heritage of the holy Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, the government not surprisingly remains reluctant to become embroiled in an ill-defined, anti-terrorist coalition against Islamist Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network, the top suspects in the September 11 terror attacks on the United States that killed an estimated 5,700 people.
The United States and Britain served notice Tuesday that Afghanistan's Taliban regime was in the crosshairs for protecting Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.
At the same time the administration of US President George W. Bush abruptly reversed its hesitation to wade into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Tuesday, saying that the creation of a Palestinian state had "always" been on the cards.
"The idea of a Palestinian state has always been part of a vision, so long as the right to Israel to exist is respected," Bush said in an apparent bid to cement Arab support for the US-led global war on terrorism.
Saudi Arabia has made no secret of its unease at Israel's continuing repression of the Palestinian intifada, which has angered the Saudi public and was described as "state terrorism" by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab counterparts during a meeting in Jeddah last week.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said US diplomats had been authorized to begin sharing with select foreign governments classified information that Washington says proves the guilt of Bin Laden, who was stripped of his Saudi nationality in 1994, and Al-Qaeda.
But Washington declined to offer any clues on what its evidence against Bin Laden was and has refused to present it publicly, apparently out of fear of compromising classified information and sources.
Rumsfeld said he believed no presentation of additional evidence was needed to persuade countries to join Washington's anti-terror campaign.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said it had seen, believed and was ready to act on evidence from Washington tying the Saudi-born dissident to the outrages in New York and Washington.
Russia also delivered another robust endorsement of the campaign with President Vladimir Putin saying Moscow "needs no proof" of Bin Laden's guilt.
Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, meanwhile, issued a fresh appeal for negotiations to avert war on Tuesday.
But the plea, which also included another refusal to hand over Bin Laden, was flatly rejected by the White House with the response: "No discussions, no negotiations" -- RIYADH (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
