Saudi Arabia will not give the United States access to bases in the kingdom for an attack on Saddam Hussein, but the foreign minister said Wednesday the longtime U.S. ally does not plan to expel American forces from an air base used for flights to monitor Iraq. In an interview with The Associated Press, Prince Saud said the 70-year-old U.S.-Saudi alliance was just as solid now as before the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.

He said Osama bin Laden, who was stripped of Saudi citizenship and who directed the al-Qaida attacks, had intended to drive a wedge between the two countries when he chose 15 Saudi citizens to be among the 19 hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

Beyond that, Saud denied the kingdom sends financial aid to Palestinian Resistance bombers who have killed more than 260 Israelis in 22 months of Mideast violence.

PHOTO CAPTION

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal speaks during the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting in Beirut, Lebanon on May 18, 2002. Saudi Arabia has made clear to Washington - publicly and privately - that the U.S. military will not be allowed to use the kingdom's soil in any way for an attack on Iraq, Saud said Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002. (AP Phot