WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration is taking seriously Arab
warnings that U.S. influence could rapidly decline in the Middle East.
U.S. officials said the administration has invited a range of pro-U.S.
Arab leaders over the last 10 days to help stem what they describe as an
erosion of influence in the region. The officials said the biggest fear is
that Washington's decline in prestige will influence the U.S. military
presence in the Persian Gulf.
Over the last week, U.S. diplomats and defense officials have toured the
Middle East. This has included the tour by Secretary of State Colin Powell
and U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Tommy Franks. Franks held talks on
military and defense cooperation with Egyptian defense chiefs on Sunday and
Monday.
"I am going to Saudi Arabia and also to Kuwait to talk about, not a
specific country, and not a specific program, but rather because one of the
parts of my job is to maintain the security relationships, the
military-to-military relationships that we have," Franks said. "We have a
military-to-military relationship with Saudi Arabia that goes back 50 or 60
years."
At the same time, President George Bush has invited two Arab allies to
the White House. Moroccan King Mohammed meets Bush on Tuesday and Saudi
Crown Prince Abdullah is scheduled to arrive at the president's ranch in
Texas on Thursday.
"The United States is making a tremendous effort in this case," State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "So what we are hearing from
friends in the Arab world is they want to see the U.S. commitment sustained,
and we can tell them the U.S. commitment is there; it will be sustained."
The officials said the administration has been alarmed by Gulf Arab
warnings that Washington's interests in the region are in jeopardy. The
latest warning came from Bahraini King Hamad Bin Issa, who told the official
Bahraini news agency that U.S. policy in the Middle East "does not add to
its prestige and reputation and could seriously harm its interests."
Arab diplomatic sources said the Abdullah visit has been marked by
tension within the Saudi kingdom. Abdullah telephoned Arab leaders such as
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah on the eve of
his trip as Saudi troops have been placed on alert.
The Abu Dhabi-based Al Khalij daily reported on Tuesday that Riyad has
reinforced Saudi troops near the northern border with Jordan. The daily said
the Saudi alert was in response to what the newspaper termed was an
increasing number of violations by Israeli Air Force jets of Saudi air
space.
