In The Gulf: Tom Fenton

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 17, 1998 / 10:11 PM EST / CBS

The United States has an Air Force Wing in Bahrain and had been planning to bring in additional strike aircraft. Now, that plan can't be used. With the exception of Kuwait, there is now no Arab state willing to let the United States stage an attack on Iraq from it's territory.

Any action will now be largely left to the U.S. Navy, which doesn't need any country's permission to launch carrier aircraft and fire tomahawk missiles from ships operating in the international waters of the Persian Gulf.

For the record, Arab leaders, like Bahrain's crown prince, say they cannot join an attack on another Arab country if it's not a case of self-defense. But privately, the overwhelming sentiment here is that they cannot support an attack on Iraq that would leave Saddam Hussein still in power.