Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud had rejected the scheduled visit of Iraq leader to the kingdom after expressing his concern that the Iraqi government is not properly addressing the daily sectarian violence that claimed countless innocent lives in Iraq, reports said today.
In a CNN report, it said that the Saudi king was frustrated because Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki is not doing enough to stop the violent attacks against many innocent civilians.
Maliki, a Shia himself, was accused of siding with the Mahdi Army which has been sowing terror in Iraq. This had infuriated the Sunni Muslims, who thought that the government is favoring the other side considering that most of the government offiials and the police are Shia themselves.
Nouri Al-Mailki first visited Shiite -dominated Iran on September 11, 2006, which became a matter of concern for Washington D.C. And the visit may have tainted the trust of the Saudi kingdom over Maliki’s relations with Iran, who until now has ignored the U.N. calls for it to stop its nuclear development program. International observers suspected that Iran may have been supporting the Shia militants in Iraq.
The Saudi kingdom is a close ally of the United States in its fight against international terrorism. The coalition forces in Iraq are now fanning out and stepping up their role to contain the sectarian violence in embattled Iraq.
King Abdul Aziz is a devout Sunni Muslim who follows the Salafi understanding of Islam, which is a strict interpretation of the religion based on the teachings of the first three generations of Muslims.