Obama arrives in Middle East to red carpet and al Qaeda threats

The US president Barack Obama’s Saudi visit June 3 was planned as extra weight to his widely-anticipated speech the next day in Cairo for easing US-Muslim tensions. Radical Muslims therefore have all the more reason for opposing it. Al Qaeda’s two top leaders poured vitriol on the Obama presidency Tuesday and Wednesday as reported HERE.
Received in Riyadh by King Abdullah and an honor guard, Obama said: “I thought it was important to visit the place where Islam began.”
He also said he “would seek the council of His Majesty.” The two leaders retired to the king’s farm for private conversation on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and rising oil prices.
debkafile‘s Middle East sources report that over and above the genuine warmth of the royal welcome and assent on the need for a new Middle East peace conference, Saudi leaders strongly object to the US president’s insistence on dialogue with Tehran as the way to terminate its nuclear ambitions and hold that diplomatic engagement with Iran is a waste of time.
After spending the night in Riyadh, the US president flies to Cairo Thursday and will deliver his speech to Muslims from Cairo University at 12:30 p.m. local time.
debkafile‘s Cairo sources report that according to passages of his speech which began to filter out Wednesday night, Obama will emphasize that the Middle East is the cradle of the world’s three great monotheistic faiths and the American people’s dream to bring peace and calm to the region.
Obama will not ignore the issue of Islamic terror. He will advise Muslims that terrorism is as much their concern as America’s and “harms you as much as it harms us.”
He will also stress US commitment to Israeli and Palestinian security and reiterate his call for the establishment of a Palestinian state and for the two peoples to live in peace.
Over last weekend, giant transports unloaded at Cairo airport a fleet of armored vehicles, White House helicopters, counter-terror weapons and the vanguard of the 3,000 Secret Service officers backed by CIA and FBI personnel who are securing the US president during his stay in Egypt.
Many Cairenes chose to stay home whether to watch the speech on television or because the city’s traffic was brought to a halt by security measures directed from a command center at the American Embassy controlling main sections of downtown Cairo, with guard posts on the Nile River’s banks, the international airport, main railway terminals and approaches to the city.
Some 30,000 Egyptian security personnel including army units stationed in Cairo are on special duty until the American president leaves. Their names and those of the welcoming party and audience at Cairo University were submitted to the US presidential security center.
Obama started his Cairo visit with an official reception at the Egyptian presidential palace and talks with Hosni Mubarak.
The details of his itinerary are under tight wraps. His convoy will be escorted by vehicles equipped with sensors for detecting firearms and explosives and covered by Marine helicopters overhead.