Obama starts Mideast tour in Saudi Arabia, 'where Islam began'

From the Los Angeles Times
The president is set to address Muslims in a Cairo speech Thursday. Meanwhile, an audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden assails the president over Pakistan fighting.
By Christi Parsons and Mark Silva
Reporting from Washington and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — President Obama landed today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which he saluted as "the place where Islam began," for the start of a long-planned trip intended to improve the tattered U.S. relationship with the Muslim world.

The centerpiece of the president's trip will be a speech Thursday in Cairo, billed as an address to Muslims, in which, advisors say, Obama will transmit a message based on shared roots, common experience and mutual respect.

Yet, even as he landed, the Arab-language Al Jazeera satellite television station was airing an audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden accusing President Obama of inflaming hatred with stepped-up U.S. and Pakistani assaults against militants inside Pakistan.

The president was holding private meetings today with King Abdullah on Mideast peace negotiations, regional security and energy issues, with a planned overnight stay at the king's ranch outside Riyadh.

"I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty's counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East," Obama said before a private meeting with the king. "I am confident that working together the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues and mutual interests."

Abdullah, speaking through a translator, said: "The historic and strategic ties between our two countries . . . go back to the time of the meeting between the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the late King Abdul-Aziz." He voiced goodwill toward "the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position."

Thursday's address from Cairo University, which will be televised and distributed at websites in an attempt to reach the broadest possible international audience, marks a formal attempt by the president to reengage the United States with the leaders and people of Muslim nations, many alienated by the past administration's prosecution of the war in Iraq and its practices in the detainment, treatment and interrogation of suspected terrorists in the region and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

At the same time, the White House readily concedes that no single address can cause a sea change in U.S. relations with those living in Muslim nations and territories, where, polling shows, a majority hold a dim view of the American administration, particularly in the Palestinian territories.

"The president has always looked at this as a process, not as a single point in time," Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said on the eve of the president's journey. "If you look at the efforts that the administration has undertaken thus far in terms of outreach -- whether it's in interviews, whether it's speeches, the speech in Turkey -- this is about resetting our relationship with the Muslim world. . . . I think you'll hear the president say we don't expect that everything will change after one speech. I think it will take a sustained effort, and that's what the president is in for."

But the aim of the president's previous tour of Turkey, the Cairo address and continuing diplomatic initiatives in the region is clear, the White House spokesman says:

"What is important is that we demonstrate that the United States wants to pursue a different relationship and ensure that Muslims around the world understand the message of the United States: That we share common hopes and dreams and that we can work together to fulfill those hopes and dreams . . . separating that from the extremism and extremists that wish to do us harm."

Following a red-carpeted arrival ceremony with the king at the royal airport terminal, Obama traveled by motorcade to the farm outside Riyadh where Abdullah keeps a stable of more than 100 stallions. He was scheduled to spend the night there.

Arriving at the king's ranch, Obama was greeted by Saudi guards astride horses. Inside a palatial meeting room, the king and president sat side by side in armchairs beneath a portrait of King Abdul Aziz al Saud. In chairs lining the walls, a long row of Saudi ministers in white robes sat opposite their American counterparts.

Saudi Arabia is a key part of Obama's plan for Mideast peace. The White House has been pressuring Israel to give ground on the volatile issue of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory, planning to use that to coax concessions from moderate Arab states.

Progress on Mideast peace talks, in turn, is crucial to Obama's goal of improving U.S. standing among Muslims. The American image has been tarnished by the invasion of Iraq and U.S. detainee policies but also has suffered from perceptions that U.S. administrations unquestioningly back Israeli interests against Palestinians.

Obama has altered U.S. policy on Iraq and detention practices, and now wants to show progress on Mideast peace.

Obama last week called the speech in Cairo an opportunity to deliver a "broader message about how the United States can change for the better" its relationship with the Muslim world.

"That will require, I think, a recognition on both the part of the United States as well as many majority-Muslim countries about each other, a better sense of understanding and the possibilities of achieving common ground," he said.

Polls in Arab nations show that approval of the U.S. leadership, though still generally low, has risen in Egypt and seven other countries since Obama took office.

Obama's address at Cairo University will be jointly hosted by Al Azhar University, an ancient center of Islamic scholarship. He plans to recognize contributions of Middle Eastern scholars to science, mathematics and technology and cite the millions of Muslims who live and practice their faith in the U.S. He also will address the subject of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

From Cairo, Obama plans to travel to Europe for events and appearances commemorating Allied efforts in World War II. The president will visit the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, in Germany, and mark the 65th anniversary of the allied landing at Normandy, France.