GULF WATCH: Day 70 : A Daily Briefing Paper On Developments In The Crisis

Military Front:

A U.S. Air Force jet crashed in Saudi Arabia, killing both crew members. The crash of the F-111 fighter plane, still under investigation, was the fourth U.S. military aircraft to crash in the gulf region in three days.

At a press conference in Washington, relatives of U.S. servicemen in the Persian Gulf urged President Bush to pledge he will order no offensive military action.

In Cairo, an Egyptian leader said Egypt’s 14,000 troops in Saudi Arabia will not take part in any strike against Iraq. Embargo Front:

Kuwait’s ambassador to the United States predicted U.N. sanctions against Iraq will not work.

“Time is running out,” Sheik Saud al Nasir al Sabah told a House caucus at a hearing on alleged Iraqi atrocities in Kuwait. He said Iraqi troops were taking food, medical supplies and everything else of value.

In other developments, a former senior U.N. official was dispatched to Jordan to find ways of helping the country overcome serious economic losses resulting from its enforcement of sanctions against Iraq. Economic Front:

War jitters and rumors that U.S. troops had been sent into Kuwait helped push crude oil to more than $41 a barrel during one spurt of feverish buying. That’s nearly double the price before Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.

Crude oil last fetched more than $40 a barrel after the 1979 Iranian revolution. But crude would have to hit about $57 in 1990 dollars to equal the real cost of oil from a decade ago, experts say. U.S. casualties in Operation Desert Shield:

Aug. 12: Air Force sergeant struck on runway

Aug. 21: Navy electrician’s mate electrocuted

Aug. 28: 13 Air Force personnel killed in crash of cargo plane

Sept. 14: Army lieutenant killed in vehicle accident

Sept. 20: Army specialist killed in vehicle accident

Sept. 30: Two Air Force personnel killed in fighter crash

Oct. 8: Two Air Force personnel killed in Phantom jet crash; Eight Marines presumed dead after two helicopters disappear

Oct. 10: Two Air Force personnel killed in fighter-bomber crash