The Saudis' Secret Iraq Plan
ALSO: -- • Chechen Terrorists Target Montana?
• Sailing Ships of Terror? Not Likely
Saudis Make Secret Iraq Occupation Offer
By Vince Cannistraro
Feb. 20 — The crown prince of Saudi Arabia has recently transmitted a secret proposal to the Bush administration, using one of his own sons, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah as an emissary, rather than officials from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, sources told ABCNEWS.
The Saudis are proposing that after Saddam Hussein's fall, Saudi Arabia should lead a coalition of Islamic nations to occupy Iraq while a transitional Iraqi government is established. According to the Saudis, the Turks would play the leading role in the Islamic force.
Senior government officials told ABCNEWS that according to the crown prince, an Islamic occupation force would defuse the anti-American hostility that is sweeping the Middle East and putting pressure on moderate Arab governments that are allied with the United States.
The Saudis would then be free to crack down on the extremist Jihadis in the Kingdom who are allied with al Qaeda or are sympathetic to Osama bin Laden.
Right now, Saudis feel a full scale crackdown would look like the kingdom is doing American bidding, at a time when President Bush is very unpopular there.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer reacted to the story by calling it "laughably wrong." He added, "There is no truth to it."
The crown prince has also been instrumental in making secret overtures to Saddam through his son Qusai, offering Sadam refuge in Saudi Arabia if Saddam were to chose to leave before hostilities break out.
It appears that no Saudi emissary has had the temerity to make the refuge offer directly to Saddam. The only word the United States has heard back on the Saudi overtures to Saddam is: "no."
Sign up for weekly e-mail updates from the Insider
Are Chechen Terrorists Headed for Montana?
By Chris Vlasto
Feb. 20 — The U.S. Customs Service issued a bulletin late last week urging law enforcement to be on the lookout for two possible Chechen terrorists who may try to enter the United States through Mexico, then travel to Montana.
The tip is based on intelligence gathered by the Russian Security Services that the two would be traveling under fake names with false Georgian passports, according to sources who passed the alert on to ABCNEWS.
The alert warns that the pair may be followed by four more Chechens from Georgia's lawless frontier region of the Pankisi Gorge on the border with Chechnya.
U.S. officials are concerned because elements of the Chechen resistance are aligned with al Qaeda, and they believe the gorge has served as a haven for at least some al Qaeda fighters fleeing Afghanistan.
Read about U.S. forces in Georgia.
Officials are also concerned they may be seeing the emergence of a new path into the United States. Besides the six Chechens noted in the alert, the Customs Service is warning other law enforcement agencies that there have been a number of incidents in recent months involving unusual nationalities trying to cross the southwestern border, both at legitimate ports of entry and in between.
Whether this is the start of a trend, the Service says, is still unclear.
It is also unclear what the two Chechens would do in Montana.
Sailing Ships of Terror? Not Likely
By Risa Molitz
Feb. 20 — U.S. intelligence officials, speaking to ABCNEWS, reject reports that they are tracking three cargo vessels across the Indian Ocean hoarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, as was reported this week by England's The Independent.
According to a military source familiar with such investigations, while anywhere between 80 to 100 vessels are currently being monitored by intelligence organizations, they do not include the three ships identified by The Independent.
Quoting a source in the shipping industry, The Independent reported that Iraq was capable of hiding its weaponry on the high seas, specifically on three vessels based out of Egypt, sailing under different country flags that have suspiciously maintained "radio silence" for several months.
Lee Adamson, press officer at the U.N. International Maritime Organization in London, said there is nothing unusual about chartered tankers staying out of contact for months at a time.
"Despite what The Independent is reporting, there is no international or maritime law that requires ships to maintain radio contact or report their positions," Adamson said. "In fact, it is quite common in the oil industry for ships to be chartered without their destinations being reported, in hopes of keeping their rivals guessing."
Read the original report.