Gates to Meet Saudi King

The New York Times reports:

After a rebuff last month from King Abdullah, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here on Wednesday to consult with the Saudi ruler on the revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa and to try to warm up unusually cold relations with the United States.

Pentagon officials said Mr. Gates’s talks would focus on a recent $60 billion deal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and the threat of Iran in the region, a major concern for the Saudis. The American officials skirted questions on whether Mr. Gates would criticize the king for sending troops into Bahrain last month to help crush a Shiite-led rebellion there.

“The king has fashioned himself as a reformer in the Saudi system, ” said a senior defense official traveling with Mr. Gates, who under Pentagon ground rules refused to be named. “They’re going to have to find their own path.”

The officials’ positive comments underscored the desire of the Pentagon to put a hopeful face on what is likely to be a tense visit. The Saudis have been angry that President Obama abandoned President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in the face of widespread protests in Cairo, and the United States was not happy when the Saudis ignored a request that they not send troops into Bahrain. A subsequent phone call between Mr. Obama and King Abdullah has been widely described as difficult and did nothing to smooth relations.

But Pentagon officials are pleased that the king, America’s most important Arab ally, agreed to receive Mr. Gates.

In March the Saudis canceled planned visits to Riyadh by Mr. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying that the king was not well. But Pentagon and State Department officials were left wondering if the king was more upset than ill. Subsequently, an Arab official said King Abdullah’s willingness to listen to the Obama administration had “evaporated” since Mr. Mubarak was forced from office.