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The death of King Fahd is
another step in the leadership transition taking place throughout
the Middle East, as one long-serving ruler after another, from
Morocco to Jordan to Syria to the United Arab Emirates, has passed
from the scene.
Like his counterparts in
other Arab countries, Fahd played a pivotal role as a nation-builder
and in regional and global politics.
 As
US ambassador to Saudi Arabia from l996 until March 2001, I had a
unique opportunity to observe firsthand and appreciate Fahd’s
leadership before his declining health incapacitated him. The sad
occasion of his death allows us to reflect anew on how much the
strong US-Saudi relationship and Saudi political stability grew out
of his initiatives and policies.
From the US perspective,
the late king should be remembered gratefully as a steadfast ally
who played an important role against communism, for Arab-Israeli
peace and for stability in the Gulf. Fahd should be remembered as a
modernizer who pushed his subjects to abandon their insularity and
join the modern world — and as an institution builder.
From the late l970s until
the fall of the Soviet Union, under his guidance Saudi Arabia was a
staunch ally against the spread of communism, witnessed most clearly
in the Saudi-US cooperation with the Mujahedeen fighting the Soviet
invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
The support that Saudi
Arabia now extends to the Middle East peace process relies on
initiatives that Fahd proposed almost 25 years ago. Although the
hard-line Arab consensus at the Baghdad conference in l979 pushed
the Saudis to reject the Camp David accords between Egypt and
Israel, the king persuaded the conference not to apply economic
sanctions against Egypt in retaliation. In l981, he proposed a
settlement for the conflict with Israel (known as the “Fahd
Plan,” it was presented to the Arab Summit in Morocco in l982)
that provided at least a psychological basis for the Arabs to
support the current peace process.
More recently, Abdullah, as
crown prince, building on the king’s earlier initiatives,
delivered a peace plan to President Bush that recognized Israel and
promised normal relations in return for Israel’s withdrawal from
Palestinian territories.
After the Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait, in what must stand as one of his most courageous decisions,
Fahd invited US forces into Saudi Arabia to help defend the Kingdom
and liberate Kuwait. The war effort cost the Saudi government $60
billion.
The Kingdom’s battle
against terrorists on its own soil, aided by strong cooperation
between US and Saudi intelligence services, has reinvigorated the
historic cooperation between our countries.
Looking back over the
nearly 30 years during which Fahd ruled Saudi Arabia, first as
regent, then as king, perhaps his most important achievement has
been the seamless transition of power to Abdullah when his health
declined, ensuring that the Kingdom would have its new king
experienced and prepared to govern the country at Fahd’s death.
With his passing the United States loses a friend but gains in
Abdullah a leader of integrity, experience, and wisdom — and a
king committed to continued reforms in his country and expanded
friendship with the United States.
— Wyche Fowler Jr. is
chairman of the board, Middle East Institute, Washington and a
former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia.)
Reprinted with permission
of Arab News.
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The
Hon. Wyche Fowler, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Middle East Institute
