Saturday, 16 March, 2002
Cheney Discusses Iraq in Saudi Arabia
VOA
News 16
Mar 2002

U.S. Vice
President Dick Cheney has met with senior Saudi officials, including the de
facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, to discuss the Mideast crisis and the second
phase of the U.S.-led war against terrorism.
No details of
Saturday's talks in Jeddah were expected until Sunday, when Mr. Cheney will
travel to Bahrain on the next leg of his 11-nation Mideast
tour.
However, as has been
the case in other countries on Mr. Cheney's trip, agreement on how to deal with
Iraq was not expected in Saudi Arabia.
Prince Abdullah
strongly opposes U.S. threats to extend the U.S.-led campaign against terror to
Iraq, saying earlier this week it would be bad for the United States, the
Middle East and the world. The Saudi leader also says he does not believe such
action will result in the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein.
The United States has
made it clear it wants Saddam Hussein removed from power, saying he is trying
to acquire or develop weapons of mass destruction that could threaten world
freedom.
Vice President Cheney
and Prince Abdullah were also are expected to discuss the prince's proposal for
Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Israeli
withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
The vice
president is scheduled to visit Israel later in his 11-nation Middle East tour,
as well as Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar. He has already visited Jordan, Egypt,
Yemen, Oman and several U.S. military bases along the way.
Some information
for this report provided by AP and Reuters.
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