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U.S. Rallies Arabs in Anti-Terror Drive
Thursday, October 04, 2001
(10:47 GMT) (11:47 UK)
The BBC

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meets with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation
and Inspector General.
Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

”It's going to be a scrap of information that is going to enable us to pull this [terrorist] network up by its roots and end it.” -- Donald Rumsfeld

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is rallying Middle Eastern and central Asian support for the campaign against terrorism, stopping briefly in Oman before travelling to Egypt and Uzbekistan.

U.S. officials have confirmed that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Uzbekistan have been having last-minute doubts about allowing their territory to be used for military strikes against Osama Bin Laden.

The Americans have key military bases and thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia -- where Mr. Rumsfeld held talks on Wednesday -- but the Saudis say that so far there has been no request to use them for an operation against Bin Laden.

Mr. Rumsfeld has said his meetings with Arab and Uzbek leaders are consultations, rather than negotiations over specific action or support for military moves.

Mr Rumsfeld's tour comes at a sensitive time, amid widespread resentment in the Gulf towards the U.S. military presence.
(More: BBC News Source)
2001 © The BBC

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