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Saudis: Saddam should sacrifice himself
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein should consider stepping down to sacrifice himself for his country and end the bloodshed of Iraqi citizens, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Tuesday. "Mr. Saddam Hussein has asked his people to sacrifice for their country, and if the only thing that keeps the conflict going is his presence, then he should listen to his own advice," Saud al-Faisal, a member of Saudi Arabia's ruling family, told reporters. Saud, responding to questions, repeated remarks he made in an interview by suggesting that the Iraqi leader sacrificially step down. Only one other Arab nation, the United Arab Emirates, has called on Saddam to leave. The United States says the time has passed for Saddam to depart voluntarily and has vowed to press ahead with the war. Neither the United States nor Iraq has responded to Saudi Arabia's call for peace talks. Saudi Arabia, which borders Iraq to the south, is the world's leading oil exporter and one of the United States' most dependable Arab friends in the Mideast. But Saud warned that the Bush administration's pursuit of the war is testing U.S.-Saudi relations and has raised Arab suspicions about U.S. intentions. "It's a relationship that's there, in my mind, to stand, if we have anything to do with it in this country," he said. "But relationships can stand only because two sides work together, hard, at maintaining those relationships. Critics of President Bush's Iraqi policy fear that U.S. aggression will spread into other Arab countries after the conflict ends, and Saud said the United States has sent a mixed message about its post-Saddam intentions. On one hand, he said, the Bush administration officially denies that it has a hidden agenda that would threaten other Arab nations. But Saud said statements by "prognosticators" and administration officials whom he declined to name suggest otherwise. "The United States is not an imperialist country, nor is it a warlike country," he said. But "these advisers", he said, are causing "a great confusion in the Arab world about the motives of the United States." Asked if he thought the United States has territorial interests in the Arab world, Saud responded: "I don't think so. I don't think so. But the only people who can clarify that for sure are United States officials." (Thought this would add interesting fodder for the posts) Posted by: Tadderly 2003-04-01 |
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