heavy in regards to a strong relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. cites the relationship as struggling and not being able to see eye-to-eye. The Saudis, on the other hand, view strong Arab opposition to Israel as the reason (Johnson 1). Is the Saudi/U.S. relationship one that we should choose to smile or to frown upon? Before getting into the ups and downs, some background information is needed; general information on the country as well as its leadership.

Saudi Arabia is considered to be a middle-eastern country near hotspots such as Iraq and Israel. The country’s size is about one-fourth the size of the continental United States. The terrain is mainly desert with rugged mountains making up the southwest. There are a total of six cities that have population exceeding one million people: Dammam, Khobar, Dhahran, Makkah, Jeddah, and capital city Riyadh. The nationality is almost ninety percent Arab and while nearly ten percent is considered to be Afro- Asian. The infant mortality rate

Because of the position that Israel has taken. For example, what is

Strong ties between the two countries were again tested after the September 11th attacks. President Bush declared that you were either good or evil. Officially, the Saudi position has left no doubt that they support the war on terrorism. On the other hand, the fact that more than a dozen of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudi citizens, and the accusations that Saudi money was the main source for financing the attacks has not been helping Riyadh’s cause (Bahgat 1).

Al-Faisal later explained that Riyadh’s opposition to U.S. ideas was because they felt that a regime change would not work:

Given that the background information on Saudi Arabia is completed, what topic should be discussed firstly? Well, it seems that the most discussed topic between U.S. and Saudi relations is the Arab/Israeli conflict.

When Prince al-Faisal was asked why he believed Crown Prince Abdullah’s plan did not get much support, he had the following to say:

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