Saudi king's outburst reflects US Mideast policy failures

Poor Georgie, when your best friends the Saudis, dump you on your ass, you know that you are in big trouble.

by Sylvie Lanteaume
2 hours, 32 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's unexpectedly harsh criticism of the US occupation of Iraq marked a turning point in the complex relations between Washington and its key Sunni ally that raises serious questions about the Bush administration's Middle East policy, analysts say.

Speaking to a summit meeting of Arab leaders last week in Riyadh, Saudi King Abdullah referred to the US troop presence in Iraq as an "illegitimate foreign occupation."

US officials were dumbfounded by the portrayal of the costly US military operation that President George W. Bush defends as an effort being carried out at the request of the Iraq government to help stabilize a fledgling democracy.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, to seek an explanation of the king's remarks.

But she refrained from taking the matter up directly with her Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al-Faisal, in an apparent bid to avoid aggravating the rift.

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