Obama not giving Gulf Allies the warm, fuzzy feeling

[86Hawkeye]

"And for all the expected talk of close ties and historical alliances, at the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Obama named the wrong Saudi king as he invoked the long tradition of friendship between Washington and Riyadh.

“The United States and Saudi Arabia have an extraordinary friendship and relationship that dates back to Franklin Roosevelt and King Faisal,” Mr. Obama said in the Oval Office meeting on Wednesday.

King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz ruled from 1964 to 1975, when he was assassinated. Roosevelt died in 1945. Mr. Obama almost certainly meant to refer to King Abdul Aziz bin Saud, Faisal’s father, who famously met with the American president after the Yalta conference in February 1945, just months before Roosevelt’s death."

 

[22*43*51]

Might have been an intentional snub.

The current Saudi King took a pass on the invitation.

 

[lucas80]

The Saudi's will be our true allies when they clamp down on money going to extremists. Right now they are the kind of allies who provide a military safety blanket for them, buy their oil, and grin and bear it when Saudi money is used to kill Americans. Geopolitics aren't for the faint hearted. One of the "worst" things about Saddam Hussein being deposed was there was one less dagger pointed straight into Saudi Arabia. Hussein kept the Saudi's on their toes. Now that the US is attempting to ratchet down tensions with Iran the Saudi's are getting worried that the Iranians will gain influence in the area.

 

[dekhawk]

Maybe it's time for a new direction in the gulf for the US. The last 50 years have been a mess.

 

[86Hawkeye]

Might have been an intentional snub.

The current Saudi King took a pass on the invitation.

I doubt that.

Obama already looks bad for not getting the King to show up. Not sure he would purposely make himself look foolish by screwing up such a basic historical fact that he should've known prior to speaking.