Middle East nations aid US war plan

Public stances are countered by quiet offers of cooperation

By John Donnelly, Globe Staff, 2/19/2003

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has quietly received almost complete military and intelligence cooperation from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and other key nations in the Middle East in preparation for a possible war against Iraq, according to senior officials at the Defense and State departments.

The cooperation, which appears to contradict public statements made by leaders of some nations in the region, includes the use of a critical command center at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia that can coordinate real-time information from US special forces on the ground with fighter planes and armed Predator spy aircraft, said defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In a key turnaround, Saudi officials also have given permission for the US Air Force to fly combat missions from Prince Sultan Air Base after a war begins against the regime of Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein, the defense officials said. Until now, the Saudis have publicly said they would only allow US military planes at the base to monitor the southern ''no fly'' zone in Iraq.

A senior Saudi official declined to comment yesterday.

In recent days, Turkey has balked at giving the United States permission to use its bases, in an effort to get a larger aid package from the United States, which is offering up to $6 billion in grants and up to $20 billion in loans.

But the Pentagon has prepared a war plan in which the military would launch air attacks on Iraq from the north through Turkey and from the south from aircraft carriers and bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar, officials said.

US officials have said that while they want use of the Turkish bases and hope to work their way through this impasse -- President Bush went out of his way yesterday to praise Turkish leaders -- they can wage war without Turkey. Officials also said yesterday that if Turkey does not go along with the US request, Turkey will lose out on all kinds of US assistance later.

''Most of the countries in the region don't want to be left out'' of a US plan, said one senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''They know that if they work with us, they will reap benefits in the end.''

Those benefits, the official said, could include aid packages, military contracts, and goodwill that could help in a myriad of ways in the future. The benefits have a flip side: No nation wants Washington working against its interests.

US officials said that one of their best partners has been King Abdullah of Jordan, who has allowed US special forces to quietly set up bases in the country. Jordanian and US special forces have undertaken combined missions inside Iraq in recent months, according to US officials, and Jordanian intelligence has provided a wellspring of information on developments inside Iraq.

Such cooperation comes with great risk to King Abdullah and other leaders in the region. Jordan is particularly vulnerable because of its large Palestinian population, which has strong anti-American sentiments rising out of Washington's policies in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and because of Jordan's economic reliance on Iraq, including cheap oil.

In the 1991 Gulf War, Jordan, then led by King Hussein, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization refused to join the US-led coalition against Iraq. No other Arab neighbor supported Iraq following its takeover of Kuwait.

Central Intelligence Agency director George J. Tenet testified last week about Jordan's cooperation before a Senate committee, praising them twice for their help. ''When more of this comes out later, you're not going to believe all the help they have given us,'' said a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''It's been huge.''

Such cooperation ''doesn't surprise me at all,'' said Jay C. Farrar, a former senior defense official. ''Publicly, they have to say some things, but underneath they don't like Saddam, and if they aren't part of the US coalition getting rid of the Iraqi regime, then the US will ostracize them.''

For the United States, the two most sensitive relationships have been with Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

In early December, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who perhaps has more zeal for toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein than any other senior Bush administration official, appeared to make a breakthrough with Turkish officials. After meeting with senior officials, including members of the military, he said, ''Turkish support is assured.''

But in recent days that support has become contingent on working out an aid deal. If that is arranged, the Turkey's Grand National Assembly would probably vote this week to allow American combat troops to use the country as a base against Iraq. If not, the arrangement could still fall through.

The relationship with Saudi Arabia has been easier, despite the refusal of Saudi officials to grant unfettered use of the base at Prince Sultan, about 50 miles south of Riyadh, the capital. But Pentagon and State Department officials now say they have received assurances that the US Central Command can use the Combined Air Operations Center at Prince Sultan for a war with Iraq.

That center, which was opened just before the Sept. 11 attacks, served as the technical command center for the war in Afghanistan. But uncertainty over its availability for a war with Iraq caused the United States to build an alternative center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

The Saudi command center, which is off-limits to outsiders, is said by military officers to have a two-story theater screen, 300 computer workstations, and the ability to act as a quarterback to a war by combining all the available signal, satellite, and human intelligence in one place.

The availability of the center might cause Central Command to shift from Qatar to the Saudi base, Pentagon officials said.

''There's no substitute in the region for the command center at Prince Sultan,'' said Richard N. Murphy, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia. ''What they put into Qatar is workable, but not anywhere near the sophistication of what was built at the Saudi base.''

Murphy said he would be surprised to learn that Saudi officials had decided to allow US warplanes from the Prince Sultan base to conduct combat missions in Iraq.

But two defense officials said that such permission has been given. ''It's quiet, but we have it,'' one official said.