Bush wanted to go after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

Bush Cited 2 Allies Over Arms, Book Says

By DOUGLAS JEHL

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 - Two months before the invasion of Iraq, President Bush told Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he "wanted to go beyond Iraq" in dealing with the spread of illicit weapons and mentioned Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on a list of countries posing particular problems, according to notes taken by one of Mr. Blair's advisers cited in a new book.

Mr. Bush's comment, in a private telephone conversation on Jan. 30, 2003, could be significant because it appeared to add Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to a list that previously had included public mentions only of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, which the president had called an "axis of evil."

Pakistan tested its first nuclear weapon in 1998, and the founder of its nuclear program, A. Q. Khan, has long been the subject of American concern over his role in providing nuclear technology to other countries. It has long been speculated that Saudi Arabia may also be seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, perhaps from Pakistan. But Saudi Arabia has denied having a nuclear weapons program. Neither country has been mentioned publicly by the Bush administration as possible targets of new efforts to counter weapons proliferation.

The notes taken by Mr. Rycroft do not provide any indication of what Mr. Bush meant by including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on the list of concern over so-called weapons of mass destruction, a review of the contents shows. The reference is confined to one sentence in a two-page document, which says that Mr. Bush "wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation, mentioning in particular Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan."