RIYADH, Aug 2 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia and the United States appear at odds over the role of of any Muslim troops that may be sent to Iraq while analysts on Monday cast doubt on the prospects of the Saudi proposal being realised.
Riyadh has affirmed that any Muslim force should replace -- and not supplement -- US-led coalition troops in Iraq.
Washington speaks of Muslim troops being either part of the coalition force or separate but makes no reference to seeing them as a replacement.
"It is impossible to implement it (the Saudi) way because it clashes with US interests," said Saudi writer Abdullah Bekheit.
"(Foreign Minister) Prince Saud (al-Faisal) wishes to see the Americans out of Iraq. (But) the US did not bring its troops in (only) to later pull them out," he told AFP.
Prince Saud said on Sunday that any dispatch of Muslim troops to Iraq "needs a number of requirements to be met," including that they would replace coalition forces and operate under the auspices of the United Nations.
Days earlier while visiting the kingdom, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said any Muslim force would be sent to Iraq "either as part of the coalition or as a separate organisation that would be within the framework of the coalition effort."
The force "would be there perhaps to provide security facilities or provide protection to the United Nations," Powell added.
Addressing reporters on Monday however, Prince Saud clearly stated that his country wishes "to help find a way to speed up the withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq and reinstate Iraqi sovereignty".
"The US wants to retain control and (leave) the problems to the Muslim (troops)," argued Bekheit, saying that such troops would be used to deal with the deadly insurgency consuming Iraq.
US generals in Iraq said in March that they expected American troops -- who hugely dominate the coalition force of around 150,000 -- to remain in the violence-ridden country for at least another two years.
The UN Security Council resolution on handing power to Iraq, passed in June, made it clear that the US-led force would remain after June 30 only at the request of the interim Iraqi government.
Abdul Monem Mustafa, a columnist with the local Al-Madinah newspaper, told AFP: "The US says it does not wish to keep troops in Iraq and wants to hand authority to the Iraqis. The Saudi proposal states the same."
If the US really does not wish to keep its troops in Iraq then it should allow for their replacement by Muslim forces, Mustafa said.
"If the US wishes to see these (Muslim) troops working side-by-side with coalition forces it should say clearly that it is not intending to leave Iraq", he added.
Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa said on Sunday that Arab and Islamic states do not at present want to send troops to Iraq.
Speaking after talks in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, he also described the Saudi proposal as merely "ideas" to help bring about a departure of foreign troops from Iraq rather than a full-fledged initiative.
"It is not possible for Arab and Muslim forces to go to Iraq and join the (US-led) forces there under a command other than a UN command," Mussa stressed.
A senior US official accompanying Powell during his visit to the kingdom last week said the idea was not to replace the current US-led multinational force comprising troops from some 30 countries, but to have a "supplemental" force.