Obama on another set of open apology tours will probably not openly kiss the kings hand again. If he does we will not know it since reporters can only report on the Official meeting. Anything else they see is not going to be reported under threat of arrest. So as we deal with a country who will not allow free speech the question is how much will we actually know about what is happening. Should we be dealing with these oppressors of their own people who are terrorists to begin with.
What concessions will Obama be giving up on since he has already proven himself to be a Muslim sympathizer above all other things?
By Ross Colvin and Ulf Laessing
RIYADH (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in Riyadh Wednesday on the eve of a much-heralded speech in Cairo the U.S. leader hopes will help refurbish America's tarnished image in the Islamic world.
After sipping Arabic coffee at an airport welcome ceremony, Obama traveled to the king's farm for talks expected to cover the Arab-Israeli conflict, U.S. overtures to Iran and oil.
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Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in a taped message aired by Al Jazeera television soon after Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia, said the U.S. president had planted seeds for "revenge and hatred" toward the United States in the Muslim world.
Tuesday, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, called Obama a criminal and warned Muslims not to fall for his polished words.
Their statements marked a concerted al Qaeda propaganda drive to pre-empt Obama's speech to the Muslim world.
"I am confident that we're in a moment where in Islamic countries, I think there's a recognition that the path of extremism is not actually going to deliver a better life for people," Obama told NBC News before he left Washington.
Obama, whose father was Muslim and who lived in Indonesia as a boy, hopes to mend a U.S. image damaged by Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the treatment of U.S. military detainees.
"This is my first visit to Saudi Arabia but I've had several conversations with His Majesty and I have been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness," the president told reporters before going into talks with King Abdullah at his farm.
"I am confident that, working together, the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest," he added.
SAUDI WORRIES ABOUT IRAN
King Abdullah was expected to express his worries that Obama's diplomatic outreach to Iran may rejig regional relationships at Riyadh's expense, diplomats and analysts say.
Saudi Arabia wants Obama to get tough with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has balked at Palestinian statehood and rebuffed U.S. calls to halt settlement building.
Obama has hinted he would like Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, to offer some confidence-building measures to Israel.
"I think we have not seen a set of potential gestures from other Arab states, or from the Palestinians, that might deal with some of the Israeli concerns," he told the BBC.
King Abdullah sponsored a 2002 peace plan offering Israel collective Arab recognition in return for an Israeli withdrawal from land occupied in the 1967 war, a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution for refugees.
The Saudi adviser said it was "completely unrealistic" to expect any concession from Riyadh, at least until Israel stopped all settlement expansion and accepted the Arab peace plan.
Washington hopes Saudi Arabia will play a moderating role in the Organization of Petroleum Exporters (OPEC) after oil prices hit a seventh-month high, threatening Obama's efforts to lift the United States out of recession and hasten global recovery.
Obama has said he would discuss oil with King Abdullah and would argue that price spikes are not in Saudi interests.
Monday, the Saudi cabinet reiterated it saw "the fair price" at $75-$80 a barrel -- 17 percent above current levels.
"The king said $75 would be okay for the simple reason that everyone in OPEC wants $100 or more," said a Saudi government adviser, who asked not to be named.
"It's just to make the point that Saudi Arabia will be able to neutralize Iranian and Venezuelan influence in OPEC," he said, referring to leading price hawks in the cartel.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter, has a nearly 60-year-old bond with the United States based on assured oil supplies in return for U.S. protection for the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia, which has more than a fifth of global crude reserves, wants to hear how serious Obama is about plans to lower U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and diversify energy resources away from fossil fuels, analysts say.
"The growing realization among Saudi officials that the Obama administration means what it says about diversifying ... may soon begin to create tensions in the bilateral relationship," political risk agency Eurasia Group said.
Obama said he would tell King Abdullah his country did not plan to eliminate its need for oil imports any time soon.
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