Abdullah, Cheney Discuss Iraq

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah holds talks with US Vice President Dick Cheney in Riyadh. (SPA)

Raid Qusti, Arab News

RIYADH, 26 November 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and US Vice President Dick Cheney discussed here yesterday issues that affect the region, including the escalation of violence in Iraq and Israel’s shelling of a Gaza home recently that killed 18 people.

Cheney arrived here yesterday on a one-day official visit to the Kingdom and was received by Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman, head of Saudi intelligence Prince Muqrin, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, as well as other senior officials and ministers.

The US Embassy in Riyadh said the US vice president arrived in the afternoon and met with the king shortly after. Cheney was not scheduled for any other stops in the region.

Cheney’s visit comes two days after Sunni insurgents in Baghdad murdered 215 people with car bombs in a Shiite neighborhood, which has prompted revenge attacks and elevated the risk of all-out civil war. A leading Shiite political party has threatened to withdraw from the government if Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki meets Bush in Amman next week as scheduled.

The United States has long pressed Saudi Arabia to use its influence in order to promote reconciliation among the various Iraqi groups.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are deeply concerned over the West’s confrontation with Iran over that nation’s nuclear facilities. Gulf countries worry about the possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons and its attempts to expand its influence in the Middle East.

Cheney was also scheduled to speak with Saudi leaders about the situation in Palestine. Earlier, the Saudi government had expressed its “regret” over the US veto of a recent UN draft resolution criticizing Israel’s shelling of a home in Gaza, killing at least 18 people.

It also has influence with the Palestinian group Hamas. Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to reach a deal between Hamas and Israel for the return of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinians — an agreement key to resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.