AN EMOTIONAL President Clinton left for the G7 economic summit in Lyons vowing to pursue and punish the terrorists responsible for the bombing of the Dhahran base which killed 19 US servicemen and wounded several hundred.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, he said he had not yet decided whether he would fly to Saudi Arabia after the summit. The President said he would now "focus" the summit on the fight against international terrorism and listed London, Tokyo and Jerusalem as cities which had suffered.
Mr Clinton said he had instructed the Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, who was already in the Middle East, to visit the scene of the bombing.
The President said he had ordered a team of 40 FBI experts to fly to Saudi Arabia to begin an immediate investigation.
FBI experts helped the Saudi authorities track down those responsible for the car bomb in Riyadh last November which killed five Americans and two Indians near a US run military training facility.
Mr Clinton emphasised that no group had yet claimed responsibility. He had spoken with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia following the bombing, and they had agreed to co operate fully to find those responsible.
The President said he would expect the US initiative for a plan to combat terrorism, drugs and nuclear smuggling, presented at the last G7 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to be followed up at Lyons. He said there would be a package of 40 specific actions led by the US.
The bombing has revived criticism about the large US military presence in Saudi Arabia where there are more than 2,000 air force personnel involved in enforcing the no fly zone over southern Iraq.
There are fears that opposition to the US military presence from extremist groups could also jeopardise the safety of the estimated 40,000 US civilians who work in the region, mainly in the oil, construction and banking sectors.
It was not clear whether the attack on the Dhahran base was mainly aimed at the US presence or was a way of undermining the control of the Saudi royal family. The titular head, King Fahd, suffered a stroke last year.
President Clinton was reluctant to speculate on the reason for the attack but indicated it could be a combination of both.
The first names of those killed in the attack were being released yesterday following notification of next of kin. Most of those killed came from two large bases in Florida.