They say there is no reason to believe that they will ever obtain the Saudi cooperation necessary to determine who carried out the attack.

American officials and Middle East experts attribute the improved Saudi cooperation to several factors.

Saudi cooperation on this front has been uneven and frustrating.

"Saudi military cooperation with our international effort has been excellent, and we are fully satisfied with the status of this cooperation," the official said.

"He wants to do it all without Saudi cooperation," Overholt said.

The reason for the lack of Saudi cooperation is unclear.

Saudi cooperation would be very important politically for the signal it could send to other states in the region.

All I can say is that we are pleased with Saudi cooperation.

Mr. Clinton did not contradict them directly, declining to answer a question as to whether he was satisfied with Saudi cooperation to date.

The Administration is now satisfied with the level of Saudi cooperation, they said.