RIYADH, 13 May 2007 — US Vice President Dick Cheney was in the Kingdom yesterday for a short visit. He met Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in Tabuk where the king is on a tour of the north. Crown Prince Sultan also attended the meeting.
A spokesperson from the US Embassy in Riyadh told Arab News that Cheney arrived in Tabuk yesterday afternoon. She said the two discussed matters of mutual interest, without providing further details.
The leaders were expected to discuss a wide range of topics, particularly the situation in Iraq.
The meeting is the first between the two since King Abdullah announced publicly at the 19th Arab Summit that the American presence in Iraq was “an illegitimate occupation.”
Vice President Cheney last met King Abdullah during his visit to the Kingdom on Nov. 25 last year.
His current visit comes after an unannounced visit to Iraq, where he met with US commanders as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. Discussions there centered on the security situation and the increase in sectarian violence. During his visit, Cheney vowed that the US would remain despite opposition to the war in the United States.
While speaking to US troops in Tikrit, 160 miles north of Baghdad, Cheney defended the Bush administration’s decision to extend military tours in Iraq as “vital to the mission.”
The toll of Iraqi citizens, who have died from sectarian violence since the US invasion of Iraq in March, 2003 has soared above 300,000, according to UN reports.
