Beilenson to Lead Members of Congress on Gulf Visit : Mideast: Five-day trip beginning next week will include discussions with U.S. and Saudi officials and probably a visit to Israel.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley has asked Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) to lead a congressional delegation on a five-day trip to Saudi Arabia and probably Israel next week.

Beilenson, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, will be joined by approximately 20 colleagues, including other members of the intelligence panel.

“It’s part of this ongoing effort of the congressional leadership to keep as many members of Congress as possible up to date and as close as possible to the events in the gulf as they unfold,” Beilenson said Wednesday.

“We’re going to show the troops that we appreciate them and we’re concerned about them and that we wish them well in their future endeavors, and to talk to their commanders,” he said.

In addition, the delegation will meet with one of Saudi Arabian King Fahd’s brothers, other Saudi officials and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf. The lawmakers are expected to have sessions with top Israeli officials as well, although that leg of the trip is still being planned.

Beilenson said that he and the other intelligence committee members also would confer with intelligence officers in Saudi Arabia to discuss their role in Operation Desert Shield. The group departs for the Middle East Tuesday.

This is the third official House delegation to visit Saudi Arabia in the past four months.