Cheney visits Saudi Arabia
Middle East Desk Report

RIYADH—Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks with King Abdullah on the Middle East.
He was met in Riyadh by Crown Prince Sultan, government ministers and leaders of the Saudi armed forces, before traveling to the U.S. embassy in the Saudi capital and the monarch’s palace for what a spokeswoman said would be “comprehensive” talks on regional issues. “The vice president is looking forward to meeting with King Abdullah, a strong ally, to discuss regional issues of mutual interest,” said Lea Anne McBride, Cheney’s spokeswoman,
With Iraq near all-out civil war, the Bush administration is renewing efforts to break the cycle of violence there by enlisting the help of moderate Arab nations. President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki are due to meet next week. The United States wants Saudi Arabia to use its influence with Iraq’s Sunni minority to help stabilize the country. On Thursday, car bombs killed more than 200 people in a Shi’ite stronghold in Baghdad in the worst attack since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Bush and Maliki will discuss security in Iraq at their meeting, in what is shaping up to be a crisis summit. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will also join
Bush in Amman. She will then attend an annual Middle East conference in Jordan, where key Arab players may meet on the sidelines to discuss Arab-Israeli issues.
The surge in violence in Iraq came as U.S. public discontent with the Iraq war was hammered home in November 7 elections in which Bush’s Republican Party lost control of both houses of Congress.