Saudis tell Bush: take a breather, give UN another try

Steven mailinglist at navari.com
Sun Mar 23 23:32:24 PST 2003


Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, has urged the United States to "have a breather" in its invasion of Iraq and give the United Nations another chance to disarm the country peacefully. "Stop the war, let's sit down, let's have a breather after what we have seen of the destruction," Prince Saud told Western journalists in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

The 61-year-old prince also called on Saddam Hussein to "start to think of the sacrifices he can make for his country", implying that the Iraqi leader should seek exile rather than see his country destroyed.

While Saudi Arabia has not offered sanctuary to Saddam, Prince Saud said the Iraqi leader and his family would be allowed safe passage through the kingdom to reach a third country. Neighbouring Bahrain has offered to shelter Saddam. Saudi Arabia has been a vocal critic of Washington's war plans since they were first discussed a year ago.

Like many countries in the region, it fears the conflict could destabilise its own society, which is struggling with a volatile mix of high unemployment and religious extremism among its youth.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/23/1048354475569.html



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