US President George W. Bush will welcome Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar to his Texas ranch on August 27, the White House said.
"He's coming to talk about a variety of regional issues -- the Middle East and many other topics," spokesman Ari Fleischer said. The invitation comes as US-Saudi ties have been strained by the September 11 strikes, trillion-dollar lawsuits, and stark differences on possible US military action against Iraq, which the Saudi kingdom strongly opposes.
Saudi Arabia sees itself as the target of a concerted onslaught in the US media because 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers who attacked Washington and New York on September 11, 2001 were Saudi citizens.
A leaked July 10 Pentagon briefing portrayed the kingdom as a "kernel of evil" and an enemy of the United States, active at every level in "terrorism." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
