Fahd of Saudi Arabia (1921-1 August 2005) was King of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 to 1 August 2005, succeeding Khalid I of Saudi Arabia and preceding Abdullah I of Saudi Arabia.
Biography[]
Fahd was the eighth son of King Khalid I of Saudi Arabia and Hussa bint Ahmed al-Sudairi, and he had education at the Religious Knowledge Institute in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In 1959, he represented Saudi Arabia at the Arab League, and in 1975 he became Deputy Prime Minister to King Khalid I of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded his brother on his death in 1982 during a time of crisis in the Middle East, having to deal with the Iran-Iraq War, Soviet-Afghan War, and rivalry with Iran over the leadership of the Muslim World. Fahd was a strong ally of the United States against communism, once saying, "After Allah, we can count on the United States." Saudi Arabia gave aid to the Contras during the Nicaraguan Civil War and gave Saudi support to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, and Fahd was the Saudi ruler that allowed for US Army forces to be stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War and the ensuing Operation Southern Watch deployment against Ba'athist Iraq. However, he did disagree with the United States on many other matters, such as the USS Stark incident and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Fahd sided with Palestine against Israel, and King Fahd was allied with President Hafez al-Assad of Syria and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, two dictators. In 2001, he offered to give Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York millions of dollars to help with the recovery from 9/11, but his warning of the United States' friendship with Israel led to Giuliani telling him to keep his money, as the USA refused to stop supporting its ally. During the 1990s and 2000s, Saudi Arabia was criticized for being a base for terrorists such as the Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda group as well as Shia groups like Hezbollah, and the Saudis were accused of recruiting, funding, and training terrorists; 15 out of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, and Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi were in contact with the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. King Fahd died in 2005, and Abdullah I of Saudi Arabia succeeded him.