Pentagon chief postpones trip to Middle East

US Defense Secretary Harold Brown has postponed a trip to Egypt, Saudi Arabia , and possibly other Mideatern countries before he attends the NATO Council meeting in Brussels May 14, US Defense officials said. The trip had been planned before the aborted Iranian hostage rescue raid of April 24, Monitor correspondent John Cooley reports. It possibly included a trip to Oman. Since the raid, qaboos bin Said, the sultan of Oman, has reportedly protested against "unauthorized" use of Oman's Masira Island air base for refueling and crew rest stops by the American C-130 transport planes on the rescue mission.