Word: abdullah
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Dismissing suggestions that military cooperation may end, Abdullah told Time: "We don't think about raising this issue at all." The reality is more complicated: although the alliance was in the vital strategic interests of both nations for decades, its outlook is somewhat uncertain. U.S. and Saudi officials tell TIME that future use of caoc remains unclear, and that talks are on the cards to redefine the U.S. military mission in the Kingdom...
...Abdullah's straight talk doesn't go down well with everyone. His relations with Washington soured last year as he vented his personal anger with the Bush Administration. Because of Abdullah's belief that Bush was ignoring the Palestinian issue, about which he feels passionate as an ardent Arab nationalist, he had turned down invitations to visit Washington, including one handwritten by Bush himself. Then, while watching a live press conference on TV one day in August, Abdullah became furious at the way the President, he felt, was putting all the blame for the spiraling violence on Yasser Arafat...
Bush assuaged Abdullah's concerns, but Sept. 11 raised tensions anew. U.S. grumbling about a lack of Saudi cooperation in the war on terrorism quickly escalated into calls in Congress for Washington to consider reducing its presence at the Prince Sultan Air Base (P-SAB in military jargon), where the U.S. has 6,000 Air Force personnel patrolling Iraqi skies. The problem was initial Saudi hesitation in allowing the Pentagon to use a new U.S.-built command-and-control center at P-SAB to conduct the drive against bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan. Known as the Combined...
...Abdullah is worried about U.S. unilateralism. "America cannot be the sole policeman of the world," he says. The Palestinian problem still rankles, too. In an oblique warning to Washington, he says that Arafat's removal "will shake the Arab and Muslim world and destroy the credibility of anybody who was involved in this move." But Abdullah's peace initiative, which Arab diplomats say could be considered at next month's Arab Summit in Beirut, is a sign that he's ready to play a constructive role. In a "statement of vision" being pushed by Saudi diplomats as a "signal...
...Abdullah's relations with the U.S. are complicated, that's nothing compared to his domestic conundrum. The Kingdom's Islamic establishment had free rein during Fahd's years - an attempt to curry favor after zealots seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979 and hard-liners criticized the hosting of U.S. troops for the Gulf War. As a result, the Islamic establishment has grown in size and strength to the point that Saudi leaders are terrified of confronting it head on. The religious sheiks give the al Saud Dynasty a vital cloak of protection against political opponents. So does...