"It is not a conflict between the United States and Iraq," says Prince Saud

WASHINGTON, December 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States should refrain from attacking Iraq alone, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Sunday, December 22, leaving the door open to possible Saudi 'cooperation' in a U.N.-sanctioned war on Baghdad.

"I cannot imagine a war waged on Iraq on a bilateral fashion, that the United States goes alone," Al-Faisal said in an interview with CNN broadcast Sunday, December 22. 

The prince quoted U.S. President George W. Bush as saying that war "is the last resort" in an effort to disarm Iraq and praised as "very wise" the U.S. decision to rely on the United Nations.

So the decision to go to war "should not be taken as a simple decision," he said.

"It is not a conflict between the United States and Iraq. It is about United Nations resolutions and about the government of Iraq's implementation of those resolutions," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Al-Faisal as saying.

The prince also left open the possibility that his country, home to a massive U.S.-built air force base, might cooperate in a war on Iraq if the war receives U.N. support, added AFP.

"Every member of the United Nations is liable to cooperate with any decision based on Chapter 7 in the United Nations Charter and every member is obliged to cooperate in that, but that cooperation does not mean joining in the effort to fight, sending troops and so forth," he said.

He also said that Riyadh would allow U.S. warplanes to fly through Saudi airspace in the event of a U.N.-sanctioned war on Iraq.

"If there is a decision by the United States, by the Security Council, you have to cooperate with the Security Council decision, whether you join in the conflict or not," the minister said.

American-Saudi relationship has been increasingly deteriorating since the Saudis publicly refused to have any role in a U.S. attack on Iraq or to let the U.S. uses its territories as a launchpad for such attack.

In the following period, the U.S. issued several reports claiming that the members of the Saudi royal family are allegedly funding 'terrorist' organizations – allegations the Saudis rejected and called outrageous and completely irresponsible.