Wednesday, October 3, 2001

Rumsfeld to visit Middle Eastern countries
By Robert Burns
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will travel to the Middle East for talks with political and military leaders as the Bush administration presses its war on terrorism, spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Tuesday.

Rumsfeld is making the trip at the request of President Bush, Clarke said. He’ll hold “a series of meetings on defense-related efforts in the war on terrorism” and discuss other topics, she said.

Which countries Rumsfeld will visit and which officials he will meet are still being arranged, Clarke said.

“This is to continue the consultations that have already started,” she said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Rumsfeld’s mission will be to share information and consult with friends. Asked why Bush chose to send Rumsfeld to the region rather than Secretary of State Colin Powell, Fleischer replied, “Because he’s the appropriate person to go.”

Many of the U.S. forces in the region are based in Saudi Arabia, and others are in smaller Persian Gulf countries such as Bahrain and Kuwait. Saudi officials reportedly have expressed reservations about the use of bases on their soil to launch retaliatory strikes against Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network.

Support for the anti-terrorism campaign in Muslim countries is considered important to counter claims by bin Laden supporters that the United States is waging war against Islam.

“We want to make sure we have the consultations at the highest level,” Clarke said. “It’s a very strong sign of the importance we place on the region and on the coalitions.”

Rumsfeld’s trip comes as the United States continues to beef up its military presence in the region. Clarke said about 30,000 American military members are in the region, including two aircraft carrier battle groups and 350 planes.

In addition to the naval forces in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, the Pentagon has dispatched more than 100 additional Air Force planes to the region since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. They are based in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and other Gulf nations.