RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia has given cautious support to President George W. Bush's new Iraq plan, but said there are many problems that needed to be resolved first.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal indicated Tuesday his country supports the "objectives" of the Bush plan, which includes sending more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.
He said Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally, endorses the Bush plan if it "stops the security deterioration, deals with all Iraqi sects in the same degree and protects Iraqi independence."
Al-Faisal made his remarks in Riyadh during a joint news conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is on a weeklong Middle East tour aimed at gathering Arab support for Bush's new strategy in Iraq and reviving the stalled Arab-Israeli peace process.
The Saudi foreign minister said the details of implementing these objectives for stabilizing Iraq "cannot be covered in one night of discussions; and we cannot comment on the means that will be applied in one night ... There are many problems that need to be resolved first."
Al-Faisal added, "We hope the objectives will be implemented because we don't have the means. The means are in the hands of the Iraqis."
Rice said the U.S. administration expects the Bush plan for Iraq to succeed, adding this is what brought her to the region.
The top U.S. diplomat, who received a clearer endorsement for the plan from her Egyptian counterpart Monday, later Tuesday traveled to neighboring Kuwait for a meeting with the foreign ministers of the six Arab Gulf nations, Egypt and Jordan.
