Saudi Minister Denies Report of Iraqi Defections
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan today denied reports that six Iraqi aircraft crews defected with their planes to Saudi Arabia, and the Pentagon said it was no longer certain the event occurred.
A U.S. military spokesman in Saudi Arabia refused comment on the Saudi government’s denial. There was no immediate explanation for the contradiction between Sultan’s statement and Monday’s reports saying six Iraqi helicopter pilots defected with their aircraft.
The information Monday came from an official Saudi government release, according to the U.S. military spokesman, who requested anonymity.
The Saudi Press Agency said Sultan, answering reporters’ questions at a military graduation ceremony in Riyadh, “categorically denied that any Iraqi aircraft took refuge in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
“His Highness described the report circulated by a number of media apparatuses as baseless both in its parts and as a whole.”
In Washington, where Bush Administration officials Monday night had backed the report as being true, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Stuart Wagner said today “we don’t know” whether the report is correct.
He said the initial reports of the defections came from Saudi authorities.
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