WASHINGTON (AFX) - The US State
Department said it was not aware of any Saudi peace
proposal to end the Iraq war.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said
earlier he had presented a plan to the US and Iraq.
Prince Saud, who spoke to US Secretary of State Colin
Powell by telephone on Sunday, did not give details.
But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
that "there is no particular approach or proposal made
to us from Saudi Arabia at this stage."
Earlier, unnamed US officials downplayed the
significance of a plan for Iraq, suggesting it was more
of a desire to see an end to the conflict than a
concrete proposal. Two other officials signaled that the
United States would likely reject the offer.
Boucher also rejected a request from the Arab League
for a new UN Security Council meeting to demand the
withdrawal of US and British troops from Iraq.
"We don't believe it's time to go to the UN for
another debate," said Boucher.
"This conflict arose because the Iraqi regime refused
to disarm peacefully, so unfortunately we think that the
time for cooperative solutions with this Iraqi regime
has passed," the spokesman insisted.
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