But is he saying this with anything beyond Saudi interests in mind? A CNSNews.com story by Monisha Bansal (thanks to Mackie):
(CNSNews.com) – Voicing support for U.S. involvement in Iraq, the Saudi ambassador to the United States said the U.S. has a important role to play in the Middle East, “whether it wants to or not.”
“It is of vital interest to us as well as the United States that Iraq would remain a unified country,” said Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Turki al-Faisal.
If Iraq were to be divided on ethnic or sectarian lines, he warned, problems in the country would increase three-fold, and there would be “ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.”
Faisal talked about the role the U.S. plays in the region at a conference held by the National Council on U.S. Arab Relations in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
“The United States is the only one who can do the right thing for everybody in the Middle East,” Faisal said.
“Not only because of the size and strength of the United States, but because the United States is engaged and enmeshed in our political situation and has been for the last 50 years or so, whether it likes it or not,” he said.
But Faisal added that it was in U.S. interests for “peace to reign, so we can turn to more fruitful endeavors.”