Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 1, 1991                   TAG: 9102010401
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JUDITH MILLER/ THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA                                LENGTH: Medium

EVEN IN SAUDI ARABIA, SADDAM GETS ARAB RESPECT

Saudis and Arab diplomats said that in Riyadh, where support for the coalition is strong, many Saudis feel a begrudging respect for the Iraqi leader, and enormous relief that he was not totally crushed in the initial days of the allied invasion.

The ambiguity of Arab reaction is rooted in the humiliation of Israel's resounding victory in 1967 over joint Arab forces, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.

In six days, Israel's military obliterated the Arabs, with few Egyptian planes ever getting off the tarmac. The profound sense of shame over this is found to some degree among a majority of Arabs.

"In all of our wars," a Saudi professional said, "the Arabs were stopped, or ultimately spared by superpower intervention. But Mr. Hussein is steadfast against the world's only superpower and the 28 countries fighting alongside it."

It may well make sense to interpret the flight of Iraq's most modern fighter planes to Iran in this context.

While Western analysts speculated about what first seemed a large-scale Iraqi defection, several Saudi military officers quietly argued that the pilots had flown to Iran to prevent the allies from destroying the planes on the ground.

Apart from the relief expressed here that another Arab leader had not been humiliated at the hands of the West, there is a deep conviction in Riyadh, Cairo and Damascus that Iraq must not be destroyed or dismembered to free Kuwait.

Baghdad is seen as a bulwark against the reassertion of Iranian influence, something feared by Saudi Arabia and other countries with Sunni Muslim majorities.

Animosity between Iranian Shiite Muslims and the Sunni Muslim world intensified during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq. Most gulf nations with sizable Shiite populations experienced an increase in terrorist attacks.

The conviction that Iraq should be preserved as a regional military power under new management was reflected in a statement Wednesday by Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

They reiterated their call to Saddam to withdraw and said an immediate cease-fire was possible if the Iraqi leader, even now, signaled his intention to leave Kuwait.

Western and Arab diplomats agreed, however, that neither King Fahd nor Mubarak expected Saddam to comply, and neither desired such an outcome.

"Neither Egypt nor Saudi Arabia see Saddam Hussein, in any form, as part of the new world order after this war," a Western diplomat said.

Rather, both leaders were said to be concerned with stemming public discontent with the war between Muslim nations and any developing admiration or fear of the Iraqi President's stand.

"Prolongation of the war is very dangerous for public opinion," a senior Arab diplomat said. "This is especially true since this is a war being fought largely on television."

In his interview with CNN this week, Saddam repeatedly expressed his unwillingness to abandon Kuwait, his determination to keep on fighting, and an utter conviction that Iraq would prevail against the coalition's overwhelming military might.

Some Saudis who watched the interview said they were bewildered by his obstinacy, given the military odds against him. But others said they were impressed by his apparent calmness.