At a recent press conference, answering a question on the visit of the U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry to inspect U.S. forces at the Prince Sultan Air Base at Al-Kharj, Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector-General made the statement:  “First of all, there are no U.S. forces in that sense.  There are planes stationed in the area for implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions, and Perry paid a visit to greet the pilots there.”  Concerning the Kingdom’s stance towards the recent developments and tension created by Iraq, Prince Sultan said:  “The good news we heard two days ago indicates that there is a new sense of rationality.”  

Some days earlier, replying to a question on the use of Saudi territory and Saudi airports by U.S. aircraft on military operations against Iraq, Prince Sultan had stated that the Saudi government had not been asked about this, but indicated that if it had been  asked, it would not have agreed.

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