Saudis hit back at Perle's 'axis of evil' jibe

State-monitored media led the charge warning that Washington's own interests were being damaged.

Rumsfeld aide Richard Perle told CNN on Sunday: "The Saudis qualify for their own membership in the axis of evil," which President George W. Bush described as Iran, Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea.

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"I hope that those who believe that we are now getting full cooperation are right," he added, referring to Saudi Arabia's role in the war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"I have yet to see the evidence," Perle charged in the latest assault on the kingdom by influential US neo-conservatives.

Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence service chief and today ambassador in London, branded Perle a "Zionist extremist".

The envoy told the Al-Hayat newspaper that Perle "has predicted the disintegration of Saudi Arabia and expressed his own point of view much more than that of Washington."

"People have been talking about the disintegration of Arabia and the overthrow of its regime since the kingdom was created in 1932," said Prince Turki, a senior figure in the royal family.

Saudi Arabia owed its existence to "God, followed by its faithful people," he added.

The Okaz newspaper set the tone of the riposte in the media, which generally reflects official Saudi thinking.

"The hawks stubbornly follow the same political line they laid out for this administration to impose their hegemony over the world and not to lead it," it said.