Saudi minister calls for persistent campaign to undercut terrorists

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Saudi Arabia pledged to President Bush on Thursday that it would use all its resources to fight terrorism.

The promise, delivered by Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to Bush at the White House, could bolster the administration’s effort to marshal Arab countries behind the U.S. campaign against Osama bin Laden.

In a brief exchange with reporters, Saud did not say what actions the monarchy might take against the Saudi exile, who is the prime suspect in last week’s terrorist bombings in New York and Washington.

But even an expression of unity with Washington was considered a positive step.

Still, in Dubai, a senior official of the United Arab Emirates cautioned that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries did not want to be thrust into a conflict.

Any aid provided by Arab and Gulf states must be preceded by a clear and specific declaration of which countries and groups will be targeted, the foreign ministry official told The Associated Press.

Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf emirates will not agree under any conditions to engage in a conflict with groups that resist Israel’s occupation, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He specifically cited Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, Muslim fundamentalist groups all listed by the State Department as terrorist groups.

Asked in the White House driveway what Saudi Arabia would contribute to Bush’s expected military offensive against Afghanistan, the foreign minister replied in Arabic: “Everything that is in our capacity to fight this scourge of terrorism.”

At the same time, Saud said the Saudis were still hopeful that Taliban, which controls most of Afghanistan, would accept “the wisdom of handing over criminals to face justice.”

Saudi Arabia itself has felt the sting of terrorism. A barracks for U.S. military personnel near Dhahran was bombed in 1996 and 18 U.S. servicemen were killed.

The Saudis and their oil riches are under the protection of the United States, assuring a steady supply of oil to the West.

Saud said Bush’s “very clear message” was that countering terrorism “requires a very persistent focus.”

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called for an international coalition to stand with the United States in a sustained attack on terrorism.

“This is a threat that can be compared to nuclear catastrophe,” Ivanov said.

In Washington to lend Russia’s support to the United States, and to confer on anti-missile defenses and other issues between the two countries, Ivanov called international terrorism “an urgent challenge to all of international humanity.”

“The problem of world terrorism cannot be solved by one-time actions,” he said. “It cannot be solved with five warplanes with 10 warplanes.’

He said the nations of the world should work together, possibly under the auspices of the United Nations, to take such steps as ending the financing of terrorist groups and closing borders to their operatives.

“We are fighting a long fight against terrorism,” he said. “We have no other choice but to fight terrorism together.”

Ivanov was in Washington along with other world leaders as the Bush administration seeks support for what is looming as a possible U.S. military strike followed by a long-term campaign on economic, diplomatic and political fronts.

In tough terms, the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, dismissed a move by clerics in Afghanistan to let bin Laden, the prime suspect in the terrorist bombings, decide whether to leave the country voluntarily.

“It does not meet America’s requirements,” Fleischer said. Bin Laden and his other key figures in the al-Qaida terrorist network must be turned over to “responsible authorities,” he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was due at the White House to see Bush later Thursday.

The Bush administration needs strong support from the Saudis to counter suspicions in the Arab world the U.S. offensive against bin Laden reflects Anti-Muslim sentiment.

Britain, meanwhile, has joined in U.S. military operations against Iraq and is a strategic asset in the Persian Gulf region, which could be a staging area for a U.S. strike against Afghanistan, where the Taliban leaders have refused to expel bin Laden.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, is meeting with Louis Michel, the Belgian foreign minister, Javier Solana and Chris Patten, all of the European Union.

Ivanov said in a speech Wednesday that terrorism is an international problem, arising in the Balkans, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and it must be addressed on a global scale, probably through the United Nations.

“We can and must do a lot together,” he said. Nations can try to end financing for terrorism groups and close their borders to terrorists.

But he clearly supported the United States in its determination to strike back for last week’s attacks in New York and Washington.

“The evil will be punished. All Russia is with you,” he said at dinner sponsored by the Nixon Center and the Moscow International Petroleum Club.

Earlier, in a meeting with Powell, the Russian minister said his government would not object to any U.S. efforts to seek anti-terrorism cooperation from the three former Soviet republics that border Afghanistan, a senior State Department official said Wednesday.

The commitment potentially could open the way for U.S. military cooperation with one or more of the three countries as the United States seeks ways to track down bin Laden and his allies in Afghanistan.