SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Thursday, October 31, 2002

The United States has acknowledged that Saudi Arabia has acquired intermediate-range missile capability.

In an address to a Washington audience on Oct. 24, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Riyad acquired the missiles from China in a development that stunned Washington, Middle East Newsline reported.

"I believe in the 1980s when Saudi Arabia acquired long-range ballistic missiles from the People's Republic of China it took us completely by surprise," Wolfowitz told Frontiers for Freedom. "We think a relatively harmless surprise, but nonetheless a surprise."

Wolfowitz's disclosure comes as Riyad is said to be mulling a new missile purchase from China and Pakistan. Western intelligence sources said Riyad has built new silos and facilities for intermediate-range missiles and has intensified efforts to procure nuclear weapons.

Wolfowitz compared the Saudi acquisition of Chinese missiles to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. He said before the crisis the United States had dismissed the prospect that the Soviet Union would transfer missiles to Cuba.

"I think it is not an inappropriate assumption of planning when you're dealing with countries that have demonstrated their intentions as clearly as the ones we're talking about, to anticipate that they will look for any doors that are open and it's got to be our job to try to close any doors that we can think of," Wolfowitz said.

The Jamestown Foundation, a nonprofit organization that studies strategic issues, said in a report that Pakistan could be serving as an intermediary for Chinese weapons to Saudi Arabia. The report, authored by Thomas Woodrow, a former senior China analyst at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, said China has reportedly approached Saudi Arabia with an offer to sell intermediate-range missile systems, including the CSS-3, with a range of 5,500 kilometers.

"Saudi Arabia could be buying a nuclear capability from China through a proxy state with Pakistan serving as the cutout," the report said. "If Riyad's influence over Pakistan extends to its nuclear programs, Saudi Arabia could rapidly become a de facto nuclear power through a simple shipment of missiles and warheads."

Wolfowitz's disclosure came on the eve of military cooperation talks between Saudi Arabia and the United States in Riyad. The talks, held earlier this week, were in the framework of the annual military cooperation meeting between the two nations and were headed by the Saudi and U.S. chiefs of staff. Saudi officials stressed that the American delegation did not ask the kingdom for help in any U.S-led war against Iraq.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2002