Australia, Saudi Arabia: The War

Australian elite SAS commandos have destroyed what appeared to be a ballistic missile site in Iraq, Defence Minister Robert Hill said Sunday.

The Minister added the SAS continued to do "excellent work" in Iraq, ahead of the main coalition forces.

"Overnight it seems that they discovered what appears to have been a ballistic missile site, fully set up with equipment, cranes, fuel tanks, etcetera.

"That has been destroyed. That's the sort of work they're in there to do, and they're doing it most effectively. All the Australians are safe."

Robert Hill revealed as well that Australian FA/18 Hornet jets had pulled out of a bombing raid at the last minute because of uncertainty about the target, or to avoid civilian casualties.

He said they were "uncomfortable about aspects of certainty in relation to the target". "That's exactly what we were told by the Air Force Chief would occur to ensure absolute minimum collateral damage," Hill said.

Saudi Arabia urged yesterday the United States and Iraq to halt what it termed an illegitimate war which risked igniting further Arab anger. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal also said the United Nations should help Iraqis take control of their country when the conflict ended. "Stop the war... Let’s sit down, let’s have a breather after what we have seen... Let’s have diplomacy work, that would be the message we would send to both," Prince Saud said.

"Iraqi President Saddam Hussein now knows what his country faces. If he asks the people of Iraq to sacrifice their lives... perhaps he should also begin to think of what sacrifices he can make for his country," Prince Saud said.

Saudi police have identified the man killed in a bomb blast at a Riyadh house last Tuesday as Fahd ibn Samran ibn Omair Al-Saedi, 30. The Police spokesman said Saedi was trained to use a variety of weapons and explosives in Afghanistan and was wanted by police in a number of cases.

Saudi security officers confiscated 21 packs of explosives, 20.4 kilograms of other highly explosive material, three hand grenades, 13 machine guns, three other guns and 120 caches and four boxes of live ammunition.

Police also found a large amount of chemical materials, a chemical workshop, an electronic balance, forged IDs with different names and various telephone devices, in addition to SR142,114 in cash at the house.

Henry L. Marconi PRAVDA.Ru Sydney

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