LOS ANGELES, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- The increasingly weighty issue of Iraq will likely demand more of President Bush's attention after he returns to his Texas ranch Saturday night at the conclusion of a tri-state fund-raising trip to the West.
The president attended the last of his three fund-raisers for California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon Saturday morning before boarding Air Force One and flying off to New Mexico to drum up support for congressional candidate Steve Pearce, who is seeking the 2nd District seat held by retiring fellow Republican Rep. Joe Skeen.
After appearing in Las Cruces, the president will return to Crawford to prepare for a scheduled Tuesday visit by Saudi Arabia's Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan to discuss what White House officials described as regional issues.
Saudi Arabia has been among the United States' staunchest allies in the troubled Middle East region and a major supplier of crude oil to the U.S. market. The close ties, however, have appeared increasingly strained since Sept. 11 when a number of Saudi nationals took part in the hijackings of four U.S. airliners.
Since that time, the Kingdom has drawn criticism from U.S. lawmakers over its support of Muslim religious schools around the Middle East that are reputedly as much concerned with spreading anti-American propaganda as they are with supplying a basic education. The Saudis have also been adamantly reluctant to allow the United States to launch a major attack against Iraq from its soil.
"There some other hills we've got to climb in order to make the world more peaceful," Bush said Friday in Stockton, Calif., "And as our fellow citizens, you've just got to understand that there's going to be more combat, more missions."
"We'll do everything we can to continue to enforce the doctrine, 'If you harbor one of these people, you're just as guilty as they are,'" said Bush. "You'll see that doctrine enforced. You'll see the doctrine that says 'either you're with us or with them' enforced."
Prince Bandar, who was personally invited to the Bush ranch by the president, will likely need some reassurances about the United States' long-term goals and strategies pertaining to Iraq.
The reluctance of U.S. allies in the Middle East to get involved in a second Gulf War, plus growing fears among many Americans -- anti-war protesters demonstrated at Bush's visits to Portland and Santa Ana -- have not appeared to dissuade Bush's keen desire to topple Saddam Hussein.
The United States this week began using radio to broadcast calls for Iraqis to take the risky step of rising up against Saddam's brutal regime, and officials have been meeting in Washington with representatives of Iraqi exile opposition groups.
