His Majesty King Abdullah said that dialogue is the only option to address the Iraqi issue and bring Iraq back to the international community. " I think we have been very clear in Jordan that we have always believed that dialogue with Iraq is the only option," King Abdullah told the CNN's Late Edition ahead of his visit to the United States.

The King also denied reports that the U.S. had discussed with Jordan the possibility of using the Jordanian territories as staging ground for any U.S. attack on Iraq. " This has never happened and will never happen," His Majesty said.

The King explained that his visit to the United States would focus on revitalizing the Middle East peace process and expounding the tremendous humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people.

Answering a question on whether Jordan would have a direct role in assisting the Palestinian authority to build up a more effective security force, King Abdullah said " Our interference in the Palestinian affairs is worrisome for us." Jordan has not received any specific request to do anything in the West Bank and " we will be very cautious regarding any direct involvement in anything in the West Bank so as not to be misinterpreted," King Abdullah said.

The King, who will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday before heading to the United States for talks with President George Bush, said the Palestinians alone are concerned about their political option and how to determine their future.

On what the proposed international conference could do to reduce violence and stop in the Palestinian areas, King Abdullah said unfortunately killing will continue until I believe the Palestinians and Israelis feel that the desired end has become reality on the ground and can be seen. However, King Abdullah said if the Palestinians and Israelis were "left to their own devices" they would have a hard time moving forward to break the cycle of violence.

"The ongoing confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis has definitely delayed and hampered the international struggle against extremism," King Abdullah said . "If for the United States, terror and extremism is the number one priority, we have to remind our friends in he United States that need to move the Arab-Palestinian-Israeli issue forward if we're going to have a decent chance of eradicating extremism and terror around the world," His Majesty added.

It was " somehow ludicrous" for the United States to try to do anything about Iraq without positive movement on the Palestinian-Israeli track, King Abdullah said.

On speculations that Jordan or any neighboring Arab country could be used to launch a U.S. strike on Iraq, King Abdullah said this has never been discussed with the U.S. officials and it will never happen. " In fact, I talked with some U.S. officials last week who apologized for the reports carried by U.S. and British papers on the presence of U.S. troops in Jordan. This didn't happen at all. There are joint multinational military exercises we do every year with the NATO and American forces and we have been doing this for decades and we will continue this ,But the are no U.S. troops deployed in Jordan the King noted.

His majesty also received an apology from a senior U.S official who explained that the whole story was fabricated by a junior officer in the Pentagon who seemed to have this to capture the attention of his girlfriend and to tell her that he knows something important and he talked to her about Jordan.