The United States has made no request to Saudi Arabia for permission to wage its war on terrorism from the kingdom's territory, the Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan said Sunday.
"The United States government is in the process of putting all its plans together and whatever we have been asked so far we were cooperating with it," said bin Sultan in an interview with ABC TV's "This Week" program.
Earlier Sunday, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying that no foreign troops would be allowed to use Saudi Arabian territory to launch attacks against Muslims and Arabs.
The United States has assembled a considerable strike force following the September 11th terrorist onslaught on the United States which Washington blames on Osama bin Laden, an alleged terrorist mastermind sheltered by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.
The Saudi defense minister was denying reports that the Saudis had agreed to allow Washington to use its command and control facilities at Prince Sultan Air Base 100 kilometers south of Riyadh for operations in Afghanistan.
Bin Sultan said that no such request had been made and declined to say how Saudi Arabia would respond in the event of such a request from Washington.
"The truth of the matter is that our discussion with our American friends is steady and it is in total agreement between us and them," he said. But "we have not been asked for using of the bases in Saudi Arabia ..."
US President George W. Bush said Friday that Saudi Arabia was "cooperating with us in terms of any military planning we might be doing” -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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