Bush, Saudi king begin talks on Mideast issues

WASHINGTON POST

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Bush on Monday launched a rare round of intensive personal diplomacy with Saudi King Abdullah aimed at winning support for a variety of American objectives such as rebuilding Iraq, pressuring Iran, fighting al-Qaida and backing the U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Bush and Abdullah embraced warmly at the bottom of the steps leading from Air Force One after the plane touched down here for the president’s first visit to the kingdom — and his first face-to-face meeting with Abdullah in three years.

Bush came bearing a big gift: His administration formally notified Congress on Monday that it plans to seek approval for the sale to Saudi Arabia of $120 million in precision-guided bombs as part of an overall arms package worth roughly $20 billion. Congress has 30 days to try to block the sales, but administration officials appeared confident they have the votes to proceed with the deal.

Bush is devoting two days of his Middle East trip to Saudi Arabia, much of it to private meetings with the king, who is hosting the president at his guest palace here and at the farm near Riyadh where Abdullah raises Arabian stallions. That amounts to an unusual commitment of diplomatic time, reflecting both the large role Saudi Arabia plays in U.S. economic and foreign policy and a desire to strengthen a relationship that has frayed badly over the past seven years.