WASHINGTON — President Obama got an oil-royal welcome yesterday as he arrived in Saudi Arabia to begin a new relationship with the Muslim world.
The first US president with Islamic roots was met with a grand arrival ceremony, an elaborate coffee service and a kiss from King Abdullah.
The pomp began with a kiss — two kisses, actually, as the two leaders pecked cheeks in the traditional greeting on the tarmac at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.
As he exited Air Force One onto a long red carpet, Obama received a 21-gun salute and was greeted by the Saudi National Guard, along with 150 members of the military and ministers wearing red-checked head coverings.
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Obama, wearing a dark suit, also gave Abdullah, bedecked in a flowing white robe, a light hug but no bow — after drawing conservative criticism for dipping his head to the oil-rich royal in London this spring. They also shook hands.
The two jointly reviewed the troops and stood under a large gazebo shielding them from the desert sun. Obama and Abdullah heard performances of the national anthems of both countries played by a brass band.
Inside the airport’s VIP terminal, the leaders sipped cardamom-flavored Arabic coffee from tiny gold cups and sat in gilded chairs.
The birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia is still considered guardian of the faith as home to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. The Sunni Arab powerhouse also sits on the world’s largest oil reserves, buys billions in US military equipment, and has cooperated extensively with the United States on anti-terrorist operations.
After the airport ceremony, the pair headed by motorcade to King Abdullah’s ranch, Al Janadriyah farm, where he keeps 260 prized Arabian horses, for substantive talks that extended to dinner.
The driveway to the ranch was lined with guards on horseback carrying swords and flags. Inside the ranch, the two leaders entered a room with a draped ceiling made to look like a huge tent, which Obama admired.
“This is a much nicer tent than you gave Prince Charles,” he quipped.
Abdullah laughed and explained that Saudi royals try to keep ties to their desert roots.
“Well, it’s beautiful,” Obama replied.
The two sat side by side in plush chairs.
Abdullah, several decades Obama’s senior, sat back, while Obama leaned to the side at times.
“I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty’s counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East,” said Obama.
He said he was struck by Abdullah’s “wisdom and his graciousness.”
Abdullah expressed his “best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position.”
Obama, whose father was a Kenyan Muslim, offered a word in Arabic. He told the king “shukran,” or “thank you.”
The lavish diplomatic flourishes spoke to the importance of the relationship to both countries.
The Saudis “need the US for protection, for security — therefore, for them to be close to the United States is absolutely what they need,” said Marius Deeb, a professor of Islamic studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
He said the Saudis believe that Obama is a “special president who wants to change a lot of things in terms of relations with other countries in the world. I think they welcome that.”
Obama’s arrival in the desert kingdom coincided with the release of a new audiotape by Osama bin Laden. The Saudi-born terror lord blamed the US for the recent retreat by Taliban thugs in Pakistan and spewed, “Let the American people be ready to reap what the White House leaders have sown.”