RIYADH, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said there was no truth in an article by a Saudi security adviser suggesting the world's top oil exporter would back Iraq's Muslim Sunnis in the event of a wider sectarian conflict. Nawaf Obaid, a security adviser to the Saudi government, said on Wednesday the kingdom would intervene with funding and weaponry to prevent Shi'ite militias from attacking Iraq's Sunnis once the United States began pulling out of Iraq. He also suggested Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, could bring down world oil prices to squeeze Shi'ite power Iran, which Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab countries accuse of meddling in Iraq. Saudi state news agency SPA issued a statement on Friday attributed to an "official source" who rejected Obaid's ideas. "There is no basis in truth to the article by the writer Nawaf Obaid in the Washington Post of Nov. 29, 2006," it said. "The writer does not represent any official body in Saudi Arabia. What he published only represents his personal opinion and does not in any manner at all represent the policy or positions of the kingdom," it added. "(Saudi Arabia) continually affirms its support for the security, unity and stability of Iraq, with all of its sectarian groups." Obaid stressed in the article that the views were his own and not those of the Saudi government. "I know this article doesn't represent Saudi policies," said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday. "I am in contact with the Saudi government and they realise the necessity of protecting the democratic process."
