DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711160054

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:  104 lines

AS U.S., IRAQ FACE OFF, LEADERS SEEK SUPPORT FROM GLOBAL ALLIES

As tensions with Iraq escalated Saturday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright abruptly made plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait today to bolster the United States' alliances with those key Persian Gulf nations.

Iraq, meanwhile, heightened already tense rhetoric by accusing the United States of trying to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It also sent a top official to visit other Arab states in an attempt to build support for its defiance of the United Nations and its expulsion of American weapons inspectors.

President Clinton, in California to raise money for the Democratic Party, continued to work through diplomatic channels - first to force Iraq through peaceful means to adhere to weapons inspections, but also to set the stage for potential military action.

Clinton spoke by phone Saturday to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, the United States' prime partner on the question of a military strike against Iraq, and planned to call Russian President Boris Yeltsin and French President Jacques Chirac during the weekend, a White House spokesman said. Russia and France have opposed military action as a solution to the current showdown with Iraq.

Although Clinton and other high-ranking U.S. officials repeatedly have said they would seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis set off by Iraq's initial threats and ultimate expulsion of the Americans on Thursday, their actions indicate preparations for a possible military intervention are under way.

Announcing her trip to Saudi Arabia, a crucial base in the U.S.-led war on Iraq six years ago, Albright took care to point out that she would not be discussing ``deployment or defenses issues.''

``I am going to Saudi Arabia because they are very close friends and because we have a mutual interest in the stability of the region,'' she said in Switzerland with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. She said it was important to consult the Saudis on ``how we deal with the threat'' from Iraq.

National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said Albright would add the three countries to her itinerary after going to Qatar today for a Middle East economic conference. The detour will delay her trip to Pakistan.

``The reason for these stops is that those are the countries that face the greatest risk of Saddam Hussein's continuing to threaten his neighbors and maintaining an ability to have weapons of mass destruction,'' said State Department spokesman James Rubin, who was traveling with the secretary.

But problems at the Qatar economic conference indicate how difficult it could be to unify Arab states that allied with the United States in the 1991 gulf war to now side in renewed military action against Iraq. Frustrated by delays in the Middle East peace process, the United States' major Arab allies have boycotted the conference, which aims to promote business between Arab nations and Israel.

As Albright headed to the gulf, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, planned to travel to North Africa today to persuade leaders of five Arab nations, including Egypt, to side with Baghdad. And Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf reiterated threats to shoot down any American U-2 planes that fly over Iraq. U.S. officials have said the flights, part of the U.N. weapons inspection program, could resume today.

If the spy planes fly over Iraq, Sahhaf said, Baghdad ``will be obliged to defend our security and our nation. Of course, this indicates we are going to shoot such planes.''

Sahhaf also accused the United States of plotting to overthrow Iraq's government ``and replace it with an American puppet regime.'' As hundreds of Iraqis flocked to palaces to act as ``human shields'' in the event of an attack, a major newspaper called for attacks on U.S. and British targets.

In response, Albright said ``threatening us or anyone else is not the answer here.''

Albright's visit to Saudi Arabia, in particular, as well as to Kuwait and Bahrain underscores their importance to any U.S. attempt to launch military strikes against Iraq, said Lt. Col. Roger Kaplan, a Defense Department spokesman.

Bases in those countries are important ``because they're the only major staging areas we have in that portion of the world,'' Kaplan said in an interview Saturday. ``Without having allies in the area, it would be very difficult to project power.''

``Aircraft carriers can do some of that,'' he said, noting the Nimitz is in the Persian Gulf and will be joined late this week by the Norfolk-based George Washington. But without bases on the ground, he said, ``we can't fully develop power, particularly when you have a country like Iraq, with close to a million men under arms.''

Clinton announced Friday he was sending the George Washington to the gulf from its post in the eastern Mediterranean. The two aircraft carriers have about 150 combat planes, Kaplan said.

The bulk of American land-based strength in the region - including a battery of fighter planes and nearly 10,000 troops - is in Saudi Arabia, which feared an Iraqi invasion after Saddam occupied Kuwait in 1990. ``Before we could use any of them in operations against Iraq, we would have to get permission of Saudis,'' Kaplan said.

Another 1,000 American troops are in Kuwait, he said. And Albright's third destination, Bahrain, is the headquarters for the Navy's 5th Fleet and home to the operational commander for U.S. forces in the gulf. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

NORFOLK SHIPS

The Norfolk-based carrier George Washington, ordered to the

Persian Gulf by President Clinton on Friday, entered the Suez Canal

around 6 p.m. Saturday and should reach the northern part of the Red

Sea by midmorning today. The nuclear-powered flattop and the four

ships traveling with it, including the Norfolk-based cruiser

Normandy, are expected to reach the gulf by the end of the week. KEYWORDS: PERSIAN GULF IRAQ

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