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Cheney Fails On Iraq, Pressed Over Palestine
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Cheney meets with the King of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Manama, Bahrain
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DOHA, March 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney found little, if any, support for extending the so-called U.S.-led campaign against terror to Iraq, but he insisted Sunday that American forces were staying put in the Gulf Arab states.
"We have not made any plans to make any change in our military positions with respect to Saudi Arabia," Cheney told a press conference in Manama before flying on to Doha, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Qatar was cited by The New York Times on March 11 as a prime candidate to host U.S. troops, especially since it is already the biggest depot of U.S. pre-positioned armaments in the Gulf.
Riyadh's refusal to allow U.S. warplanes to fly from the kingdom to bomb Afghanistan, reportedly, strained ties with Washington, prompting U.S. media and congressmen to raise the possibility of a redeployment of the 5,000 troops, stationed in the kingdom, to other Gulf Arab states.
However, Cheney said there was no such plan in a region, where U.S. forces began to deploy in 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and have remained to protect the Gulf's oil-rich monarchies and to contain Baghdad.
"I am not aware of any adjustments that we are planning nor did I discuss with the Saudis last night (Saturday) any modification of our overall force," he added.
In Saudi Arabia, Cheney held talks with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, but found no support for new U.S. strikes on Iraq. Cheney was told the United States could not use the kingdom's territory to launch military strikes on Iraq, a Saudi newspaper reported Sunday.
It would be difficult for the United States to mount a successful military campaign against Iraq without the support — or at least acquiescence — of Saudi Arabia, military analysts suggest.
Earlier Sunday, Cheney visited the major U.S. military base in the Gulf state of Bahrain, saying his Middle East tour remained focused on Iraq, despite opposition to any attack on the country from regional leaders.
Bahrain was the seventh stop on Cheney's trip to 11 Middle Eastern states, during which he is sounding out opinion about U.S. proposals to unseat Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. So far the regional leaders have told Cheney they oppose any military strike on a fellow Arab State.
Speaking to hundreds of U.S. sailors and Marines at the 5th Fleet's base in Bahrain, Cheney said his meetings focused on tackling regimes seeking weapons of mass destruction. "The danger is very real and growing," he said.
Bahrain, which hosts the Fifth Fleet, was formally designated by U.S. President George W. Bush Friday as "a major non-NATO ally," clearing the way for expanded bilateral defense and economic ties. The move makes Bahrain just the third Arab state, after Egypt and Jordan, to enjoy the special status.
Cheney, who flew in from the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, was due to hold talks with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, AFP reported.
According to the BBC’s online news service, Cheney is hearing the same message from Arab leaders - that America must stop the fighting between Israeli and the Palestinians before it can expect Arab support for a military assault on Iraq. There is also genuine anger at America's hands-off policy towards Israel.
Arab officials believe that the United States is the only country capable of influencing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
An open letter to Cheney in the Saudi Gazette, the main English language newspaper in Saudi Arabia, asks how America can justify trying to eliminate Iraq's Saddam Hussein, while doing nothing to rein in Ariel Sharon. Both men are butchers, the paper says, referring to Ariel Sharon's role in the Israeli-Lebanon war.
Cheney, who has already visited Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates as well as Saudi Arabia, is also to go to Kuwait, Israel and Turkey.
At the same time Cheney is touring the region to drum up support for an eventual strike.
Ezzat Ibrahim, vice president of Iraq's ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), is currently visiting the United Arab Emirates in an effort to rally Arab states against a new U.S. military offensive against Iraq. He will also visit Qatar Monday.
The deputy to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has already visited Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, while Cheney was due in Doha later Sunday after a stop in Bahrain.
The United States has threatened to take military action against Iraq unless UN arms inspectors, pulled out on the eve of a December 1998 US-British bombing blitz, are allowed back in to check that Baghdad no longer has weapons of mass destruction.
The United States has substantial military equipment stockpiled in Qatar, with which it concluded a defense agreement in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait.
But Doha also has good relations with Baghdad and favors lifting U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The Qatari daily newspaper, Al-Raya, said Sunday that Doha, like the other Gulf Arab capitals on the U.S. vice president's tour, would "notify Cheney of its strong opposition to a U.S. military strike on Iraq."
Meanwhile, Iraq's official media launched a tirade of insults Sunday at Cheney, branding him a "liar" and "sick", as he consults Gulf Arab leaders about possible military strikes against Baghdad.
"The allegations of Cheney and his Zionist clique, according to which the world and American interests are threatened by weapons of mass destruction, are an American-Zionist heresy," said the ruling Baath party newspaper Ath-Thawra.
"Cheney, who is seriously sick, should be ashamed of his lies," the daily said. "It's America that has weapons of mass destruction and attacks Iraq in contempt of international conventions and charters."
Baghdad has steadfastly refused to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return to check for weapons of mass destruction since they fled in December 1998, although signs have emerged recently in Iraq of a change of policy.
"The Arab masses reject the aggression against Iraq and the emissary (Cheney) will hear this from every place which he sullies with his filthy feet," said the government daily Al-Jumhuriya.
"The Iraqi people do not fear America and its threats," said Al-Qadissiya newspaper, defying "liars such as American president (George W.) Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Cheney, to put forward a single shred of evidence or information to support their allegations."
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