| RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia called
on Wednesday for a speedy end to a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and warned
of a possible humanitarian catastrophe because of the breakdown of order
there. "The way should be opened for the Iraqi people to choose the way
it sees to manage its affairs itself and ending the occupation as soon
as possible," Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told reporters.
"Saudi Arabia observes with increasing concern the collapse of security, chaos, theft and looting, and warns that this situation could lead to a humanitarian disaster," he said. Prince Saud was speaking not long before Marines toppled a huge statue of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in the heart of Baghdad on as Iraqis celebrated the humiliating collapse of his 24-year rule. Asked if the desert kingdom, a key U.S. ally in the region, would deal with a governing authority set up by the U.S. and British forces that invaded Iraq last month, he said: "The government we will deal with is the government chosen by the Iraqi people and that's something that doesn't concern us, but concerns international legitimacy." "When the Iraqi people establish their state, we'll deal with this state," he said. He said the idea that Arab countries were concerned about the spread of democracy in the region was "ridiculous." "Does the idea of participation in governing their affairs seem a threat to the people of the Middle East? The question seems to us in the region to be ridiculous," he said. "The threat comes from guns, the threat comes from bombs, the threat comes if somebody talks about the Middle East as only a region where resources are to be exploited," he added. Washington has said removing Saddam in Iraq could be the catalyst for democratic change around the Middle East, where few countries are democracies.
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