Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said he has been warning top US government officials that Iraq is rapidly heading toward disintegration and there is the risk of a regional war. Speaking to reporters at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, Prince Saud said he was so worried he is warning âeveryone who will listenâ in the Bush administration. âThere is no dynamic now pulling the nation together,â the prince said. Iraqâs potential division into a Kurdish state in the north, a Sunni state in the center and a Shiite state in the south would âbring other countries in the region into the conflict,â he explained.Turkey has long threatened to forcefully prevent Iraqâs Kurds from declaring independence. Shiite Iran could increase its influence in Iraq, where it already enjoys strong sympathy in the Shiite-majority government. âThis is a very dangerous situation,â he said. Prince Saud blamed much of Iraqâs ills on US decisions such as designating âevery Sunni as a Baathist criminal.â While the prince did not refer to the Bush administration directly, he was referring to an order issued by US proconsul Paul Bremer soon after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. Bremer banned all members of Saddamâs largely Sunni Arab Baath Party from holding government jobs.
Prince Saud said he did not believe Iraq was engulfed in full-scale civil war but the trend was moving in that direction. Asked what Saudi Arabia feared most about the trend, Saud said, âIt will draw the countries of the region into the conflict and that is the main worry of all the neighbors of Iraq.â