U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left for the Middle East Tuesday on a mission to four nations for what one Defense Department official called 'wide-ranging conversations largely focused on this effort to combat terrorism.'
Rumsfeld will travel to Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Uzbekistan before returning to the United States by the end of the week.
'We have something that my wife and I have arranged for Saturday morning, so I'm hoping to be back by then,' Rumsfeld said in a press conference with visiting Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh.
Defense Department spokesperson Victoria Clarke said in a Tuesday press briefing that Rumsfeld's 'conversations' would 'continue the consultations that have already started, and ... show our appreciation for the cooperation that has been given and our commitment to the region.'
On the same day that Rumsfeld left for the Middle East, Frank Taylor, U.S. ambassador at-large and coordinator for counter-terrorism, offered evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the North Atlantic Council. The council is the highest executive body within NATO, and it elected Tuesday to officially invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which declares that an attack on one member of the organization is an attack on all 19 members. The article had been invoked Sept. 12 pending evidence that the attacks were indeed carried out by foreign forces.
NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson announced at a press conference Tuesday that Article 5 would go into effect.
'It is clear that all roads lead to al Qaeda and pinpoint Osama bin Laden as being involved,' Robertson said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also spoke Tuesday and used strong language to warn the Taliban that they must surrender bin Laden. The Los Angeles Times reported that Blair said the Taliban must 'surrender the terrorists or surrender power.'
