Obama, Top Officials Pay Respects to Deceased Saudi King
During his visit to Saudi Arabia this week, President Barack Obama reiterated the U.S.'s alliance with the oil-rich Middle Eastern country, paying his respects to diseased King Abdullah.
The president spent four hours visited Riyadh, where he, along with First Lady Michelle Obama and other American dignities, visited the grave of King Abdullah and visited with new King Salman, Adbullah's 79-year-old half-brother.
The U.S. has previously been criticized for forging an alliance with Saudi Arabia despite the conservative Middle Eastern county's human rights policies, including the rights of women.
"Sometimes we need to balance our need to speak to them about human rights issues with immediate concerns we have in terms of counterterrorism or dealing with regional stability," Obama said in an interview with CNN Tuesday.
According to the New York Times, relations between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have been strained since President Obama decided not to mount an airstrike against Syria following alleged chemical attacks on civilians carried out by President Bashar al-Assad.
Obama brought past and present American dignitaries with him on Air Force One to meet King Salman, including National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry and Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi.
"It is very obvious that Obama wants to make a point, that 'We do care for Saudi Arabia, and I have assembled your friends and my foes and brought them with me,' " Jamal Khashoggi, a popular Saudi journalist, told the New York TImes. "It is good, but will it be more than just paying condolences?"
