
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 18, 1991                   TAG: 9104180613
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

UNWELCOME/ SAUDIS DELAY A SENATOR

FRANK Lautenberg, U.S. senator from New Jersey, was among 17 senators seeking recently to visit the gulf. He was delayed when he was twice denied permission to enter Saudi Arabia. Kuwait also would have barred him.

The reason: Lautenberg had an Israeli stamp on his passport from an earlier trip. Not until the State Department issued a second passport, free of the damning stamp, did the visit go on.

This is outrageous, but not unusual. You see: American troops are welcome anyday to save these miserable monarchies - but visit Israel first, and your passport is no good. It's official policy. The Saudis and Kuwaitis are saying, in effect, that they and not the U.S. government will determine the validity of a U.S. passport.

Never mind that, except for a half-million recent visitors, their nations might be Iraqi provinces today.

by CNB