Arab states united in rejecting attack on Saddam

Rarely can an American vice-president have met such a rebuff from America's Arab allies. Not a single Arab king, prince or president has been prepared to endorse a US attack on Iraq.

Even in Kuwait – where Dick Cheney arrives today before going on to Israel – an opinion poll suggests that more than 40 per cent of its citizens are hostile to Washington's policies.

In every Arab capital, Mr Cheney has been politely but firmly told to turn his attention to the Palestinian-Israeli war, and forget the "axis of evil'' until the US brings its Israeli allies into line. All Mr Cheney's efforts to pretend that the conflict in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel is separate from Iraq – or "two tracks" as the American cliché would have it – have failed.