Jiddah, Saudi Arabia ? The Bush administration’s campaign to reinvigorate the anti-Iraq coalition ran into more resistance Saturday from Saudi Arabia and Jordan, two of America’s staunchest Arab allies.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, in California for a visit, warned that a U.S.-led operation could too easily go “completely awry” and even backfire, producing a civil war in Iraq that could bring in neighboring countries  and even have a ripple effect in the United States and Europe.

“It’s the potential Armageddon of Iraq that worries all of us, and that’s where common sense would say, ‘Look, this is a tremendously dangerous road to go down,'” Abdullah said in his first interview since Vice President Dick Cheney visited him last week to discuss Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

“If our aim is to win against terrorism, we can’t afford more instability in the area,” Jordan’s Abdullah said.

The usually tight-lipped Crown Prince Abdullah left little doubt about Saudi anxiety over a possible U.S. attack in Iraq when he granted a pair of television interviews on the eve of Cheney’s visit, criticizing the prospect of a new U.S. military operation.

“I do not believe it is in the United States’ interests or the interests of the region or the world’s interest to do so. And I don’t think it will achieve the desired result,” Abdullah, the Saudi kingdom’s de facto ruler, told Barbara Walters in an ABC News interview broadcast Friday.

The Saudi Abdullah added his objections to those of four other Arab governments that Cheney has visited during his tour of the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates.

But the Saudi rebuff is a particularly stiff blow to Cheney’s efforts to gain regional backing for confronting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein over his pursuit of nuclear, biological and chemical arms.

The absence of Saudi support could significantly hamstring any substantial U.S. attack on Iraq. In addition to commanding considerable influence in the region, the kingdom also shares a long border with Iraq and is a crucial host for U.S. forces, including those now patrolling the “no-fly” zone over southern Iraq.

During his overnight stay in Saudi Arabia, Cheney met briefly with King Fahd, the kingdom’s ailing monarch, before dinning and having a working session with Abdullah at his Salaam Palace.

Cheney’s relationship with the Saudi royal family dating from the Persian Gulf War and his subsequent tenure as chairman of Halliburton Co., an energy services company, could prove valuable at a time when U.S.-Saudi relations have gone through a rough patch. They were hurt by the disclosure that 15 of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were Saudi, and by reports the kingdom has been slow to deal with suspected al-Qaida financial accounts and has resisted U.S. requests to use key military facilities here for the military campaign in Afghanistan.

“The ties between us are strong and have been for 60 years,” Abdullah said. “Unfortunately, the events in September have created doubts among some of our friends in the United States.”

The warnings from Jordan’s Abdullah also are particularly ominous as the Bush administration begins sorting through the options in its pledge to confront Hussein as part of the next stage in the war on terrorism.

Abdullah, 40, the symbol of the region’s new generation of leaders, is a pragmatist who has sought to bridge cultures and push for political reform in the region. But on Iraq, he sees no room for compromise, reflecting the now clear-cut position of the majority of Arab leaders.

“A strike against Iraq, the potential fragmentation of Iraq, the potential nightmare of a civil war as a result of an American strike, is something that I don’t think the region can handle,” the Jordanian king said.