THE REHABILITATION OF KING SAUD AND HIS TRIBAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 009068


E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2011
TAGS: PGOV PREL SA IZ
SUBJECT: THE REHABILITATION OF KING SAUD AND HIS TRIBAL
TIES TO IRAQ

Classified By: Political Counselor David H. Rundell
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Saud bin Abudulaziz was the eldest surviving son of
the Kingdom's founder Abudulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud. He
became Crown Prince and Viceroy of the Nejd in 1933. Upon
his father's death in 1953, he became King. He was deposed
by his brothers in 1964 and died in exile a few years latter.
Incompetence may well have played a part in Saud's removal,
but it was his policy of placing many of his 45 sons in
senior positions ahead of his more experienced brothers that
created a coalition against him. His brothers suspected,
probably correctly, that Saud planned to follow his own
father's lead by making his eldest son the next King.


2. (C) Until very recently, King Saud was erased from Saudi
history. His family marginalized He was remembered, if at
all, as a spendthrift who bankrupted the Kingdom with
extravagant palaces and payments to the tribes. He was
blamed for poor judgment, particularly in his handling of the
Yemen Civil and an alleged attempt to assassinate Egypt's
President Nasser.


3. (C) However, important events did take place during his
reign. King Saud created the Council of Ministers and
established the Ministries of Commerce, Education and Health.
He founded the country's first university, which he named
for himself. After meeting with President Eisenhower in
Washington, he renewed the lease on the U.S Air Force base in
Dhahran. He put down a major strike by Communist and
pro-Nasser agitators at Aramco. Perhaps most interestingly,
he was the first Saudi King to use the oil weapon when he
stopped shipments to Britain and France at the time of the
Suez Crisis.


4. (C) For over 30 years Mohammed bin Saud bin Abudulaziz
was the only son of King Saud to hold high office. Mohammed
has been the governor of Saudi Arabia's most obscure province
Baha for many years. He is married to King Faisal's daughter
Sara. Several years ago, another son of King Saud, Mishal,
became governor of another obscure province, Najran. Now it
appears that the rehabilitation of this branch of the ruling
family has become official. The National Museum has held a
large, well publicized exhibition about King Saud. The press
has covered a recent meeting between King Abudulah and the
nearly 100 children of King Saud. A few pictures of King
Saud have begun to appear in Riyadh. As one Saudi told us,
"I never expected to see that."


5. (C) Comment: So what is going on? First of all the
rehabilitation of King Saud is clearly part of King
Abudullah's program of rallying and uniting the ruling family
by reaching out to those members who have felt excluded.
With the Kingdom facing serious foreign threats, he wants to
solidify his base. Secondly, King Saud's mother was from a
clan of tribal chiefs of great renown, the Bani Urair shiakhs
of the Bani Khalid tribe. The Bani Khalid territory
stretches from Dhahran to the Euphrates. They are one of the
largest tribes in southern Iraq. In the same way that King
Abdullah is clearly talking to his cousins in the Iraqi
Shammar tribe, the King may well have decided that, in
preparation for great Saudi involvement in Iraq, it is time
to improve relations with the Bani Khalid as well. End
Comment


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