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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -
Just days after criticizing Saudi Arabia as a
place with no tolerance for religious minorities, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice has a full agenda in the kingdom, an
important Arab ally estranged by the Sept. 11 attacks four years
ago.
Rice's trip to the conservative Islamic kingdom also recalled
another terror attack last December when al-Qaida gunmen stormed
into the inner courtyard of a U.S. consulate in this port city
firing their guns, grabbing human shields and killing five people.
Four of the attackers were killed.
The State Department cited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for denying
religious freedom to non-Muslims and found fault to a lesser degree
with other allies including Israel, Belgium, France, Germany and
Pakistan.
"Freedom of religion does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, the report
said. "Islam is the official religion and all citizens must be
Muslims."
Rice was expected to raise the report along with gentle pressure
toward greater political openness and human rights reforms. Rice
singled out allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt for criticism in a June
speech encouraging democratic change in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has been working to rebuild a network of political and
economic contacts with the United States. President Bush has
reached back, inviting Saudi King Abdullah to his Crawford ranch for
a chummy visit last spring.
The two leaders agreed then to set up a high-level committee, headed
by Rice and the Saudi foreign minister, to deal with strategic
issues. Rice and her Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al-Faisal, were
inaugurating that initiative during Rice's visit.
Relations between Riyadh and Washington suffered after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks masterminded by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden.
Fifteen of the 19 highjackers were Saudis, and some U.S. officials
blamed the kingdom's austere branch of Islam, known as Wahhabism,
for encouraging hatred of the West, Christians and Jews.
Saudi Arabia believed it was being unjustly blamed for the actions
of bin Laden, who seeks to topple the Al Saud monarchy.
Last month, Abdullah called Islamic terrorism "the work of the
devil," and said Saudi Arabia will fight it "until we eliminate this
scourge."
In the same ABC television interview he also said the kingdom would
expand the rights of women, eventually allowing them to drive cars.
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