Bush visits Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - January 14, 2008 Bush's talks with Saudi King Abdullah, which began over dinner
and were continuing with late-night meetings, also were expected to
cover peace between Israelis and Palestinians and democracy in the
Middle East.
Coinciding with Bush's trip, the Bush administration in
Washington notified Congress on Monday that it will offer Saudi
Arabia the chance to buy sophisticated Joint Direct Attack
Munitions - or "smart bomb" - technology and related equipment,
the State Department said. The administration envisions the
transfer of 900 of the precision-guided bomb kits, worth $123
million, that would give the kingdom's armed forces highly accurate
targeting abilities.
The proposed deal follows notification of five other packages to
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, bringing to
$11.5 billion the amount of advanced U.S. weaponry, including
Patriot missiles, that the administration has announced it will
provide to friendly Arab nations, State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said. Administration officials say the total amount of
eventual sales as part of the Gulf Security Dialogue is estimated
at $20 billion, a figure subject to actual purchases.
The arms packages are an important part of the U.S. strategy to
bolster the defenses of oil-producing Gulf nations, such as Saudi
Arabia, against threats from Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf
states, which have majority Sunni Muslim populations, harbor deep
suspicions about Shiite Iran's apparent designs to establish itself
as a major power.
Congress already has been briefed on all the packages, which
also include the sale of the Navy's Littoral Combat system.
Lawmakers mostly see the deals as critical to maintaining relations
with war-on-terror allies. Some are opposed to the JDAMs portion
out of concern that it gives Saudi Arabia the ability to attack
Israel, but are unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority needed,
within an allowed 30-day period, to block the sales.
The administration has assured lawmakers in closed briefings in
recent months that there would be proper restrictions on the JDAMs
sales to ensure they would not threaten to Israel. Israel, which
has been sold JDAMs technology by the U.S. as well, also has said
it does not oppose the deal.
White House counselor Ed Gillespie said he did not know if the
president and the king had discussed rising oil prices, but he said
the subject has come up on this trip, particularly in terms of
Bush's goals for developing alternate fuels and sources of energy,
including nuclear power. The Saudis are responsible for almost
one-third of OPEC's total output. Gillespie said Mideast leaders
"talked about the nature of the market and the vast demand that's
on the world market today for oil," something he called "a
legitimate and accurate point."
Another item for possible discussion were the democratic
principles Bush has promoted during his trip. While Abdullah has
tried to push some reforms on education and women's rights and
there have been limited municipal council elections, the king has
been cautious and limited in his efforts. He apparently has been
hampered by others in the royal family worried that fast changes
could upset the country's conservative clerics and citizens.
After arriving Monday afternoon in Riyadh from Dubai, Bush
expected to hear Abdullah urge him to keep up the pressure on
Israel to halt settlements in Palestinian territories. The
administration was able to persuade the Saudis to participate in
the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., in
November.
Bush enjoyed a warm embrace from Abdullah. He was staying a
night at the monarch's ranch - a rare show of hospitality to a
visiting dignitary that reflects Bush's hosting of Abdullah twice
at his own ranch in Crawford, Texas.
And the king greeted Bush at the base of the steps of Air Force
One - a gesture the president never affords foreign leaders
visiting the U.S. A band played each country's national anthem as
the leaders walked on a red carpet behind a high-stepping uniformed
officer carrying a gold sword.
After dinner in the King's Palace, Bush and Abdullah walked
through a large central atrium and picked up cups of Arabic coffee
to take into their meetings. Sitting side by side in chairs,
Abdullah presented Bush with a gold necklace adorned with a large
medallion - the King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit, the country's
highest honor, named after the founder of the modern Saudi state.
The award was placed around Bush's neck and the two exchanged
the region's traditional double kiss. "I am honored," Bush said.
The hospitality masked Bush's deep unpopularity among ordinary
Saudis.
A recent poll conducted for Terror Free Tomorrow, a bipartisan
group whose goal is undermining world support for terrorism, found
only 12 percent here view Bush positively - lower than Iran's
president or even al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden - and more think
warmly toward Iran than America. Top among the reasons are the
chaos in Iraq that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the
widespread Arab feeling that the United States is biased toward
Israel and not serious in seeking Mideast peace.
A rare cold front brought clouds and rain to Riyadh for the
visit. Tight security was evident: Hundreds of police cars have
deployed along major roads and sharpshooters are on some rooftops.
In one neighborhood, police using loudspeakers demanded that cars
be removed from some streets as two helicopters hovered overhead.
Earlier in Dubai, Bush got a flavor of the cosmopolitan banking
and business hub, whose glass skyscrapers and booming construction
have turned it into the capital of Middle East hustle. The soaring
Persian Gulf city-state was Bush's second stop in the seven-state
United Arab Emirates federation. On the first, in Abu Dhabi on
Sunday, he delivered a gentle lecture on democracy to authoritarian
Arab allies and attended an opulent picnic at a desert horse camp.
Bush engaged in a day of cultural diplomacy in Dubai. He stopped
at the historic home of the city-state's former ruler, now a
museum, where a group of girls performed to Arabic music.He had
lunch on cushions set in a circle with students of the Dubai School
of Government. And he attended a gathering of a young leaders'
group, in a conference room atop one of Dubai's signature
buildings, the luxury hotel Burj Al Arab that is shaped like a tall
ship sail.
Dubai is caught in the middle of the West's efforts to crack
down on business in and out of Iran to protest its nuclear
ambitions. Dubai, with a powerful Iranian business community, is
eager to maintain its lucrative financial ties with Tehran, but
wary of angering the United States and the United Nations.
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Associated Press writers Donna Abu-Nasr in Riyadh and Anne
Flaherty and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this story.