ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
The King of Saudi Arabia is dead. Saudi state television reported his death late today. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was 90 years old. According to the Saudi government, he'll be succeeded on the throne by Crown Prince Salman. Salman is 79. King Abdullah was a close but sometimes contentious ally of the U.S. And he was seen as a reformer, albeit in slow, conservative Saudi style. A few months ago, he promised women would vote and run in this year's local elections. NPR's Kelly McEvers has this report on King Abdullah's reign.
KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: Abdullah was born before Saudi Arabia was even a country. It was the early 1920s, and his father, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, set out to conquer the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. In one famous battle, ibn Saud surrounded the capital of a rival tribe.
ROBERT LACEY: Famously, instead of executing everybody, he invited them to be his guests.
MCEVERS: And married one of them, says Robert Lacey, author of two books on Saudi Arabia. The result of this marriage was Abdullah. Abdullah's father eventually declared the land he'd conquered a kingdom. Yet, it remained of little interest to the West until 1938, when an American company discovered vast reserves of oil. After World War II, oil experts soared and Saudi Arabia boomed. Abdullah's father died in 1953. His dozens of sons vied for power and influence. Abdullah did not stand out from the crowd. Again, Robert Lacey.
LACEY: I can remember when I lived in Saudi Arabia in the late '70s, early '80s. Abdullah was a sort of joke. I mean, he was very butch and powerful-looking with his black beard, but then he'd open his mouth and out would come this stutter.
MCEVERS: Abdullah later got a speech coach. Unlike the so-called playboy princes, he was known for austerity and toughness. Here's Ford Fraker, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during Abdullah's reign.
FORD FRAKER: Well, when he engages, he engages very personally, very directly. And you can feel the power in him. He can be very charismatic to the point where I've been in meetings where he's actually moved people to tears.
MCEVERS: In 1982 Abdullah's brother Fahd became king and Abdullah was named Crown Prince. He already headed the powerful national guard. It was a turbulent time. The holy shrine at Mecca had recently been seized by Islamist fanatics. Iran had undergone an Islamic revolution and Afghanistan would soon rise up against a Soviet invasion. Fahd wanted to keep Saudi Arabia's own restive religious establishment on his side. He spent millions on Islamic universities and put religious leaders in key government jobs.
In 1995, Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke. Abdullah became the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. Then came the attacks of September 11, 2001. The fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi shook the Saudi leadership and threatened the kingdom's relationship with the U.S. Robert Jordan is another former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia who arrived in the kingdom less than a month after 9/11.
ROBERT JORDAN: And the Saudis, by and large, could not simply believe that 15 of their sons had hijacked these airplanes and done what they had done. They literally were in denial.
MCEVERS: High-ranking members of the royal family told Jordan they believed 9/11 was an Israeli plot. American intelligence officials flew to Saudi Arabia to share forensic evidence. Even then Abdullah viewed the attackers as a handful of deviance rather than a widespread movement. It was only in 2003, after a series of attacks inside Saudi Arabia that killed more than 160 people, that Abdullah changed his mind about the threat posed by al-Qaida. Again, here's Robert Jordan speaking to a Washington think tank.
JORDAN: That was a turning point and after that turning point, we saw tremendous progress in capturing and killing most of the al-Qaida leadership in Saudi Arabia.
MCEVERS: Author Robert Lacey says not only did Abdullah's attitude toward al-Qaida change, but he also began to question how influential the religious establishment had become. After all, many of the terrorists had been educated in Saudi schools and prayed in Saudi mosques.
LACEY: Abdullah's diagnosis of 9/11 was that the religious had got out of hand. And there was a famous episode when in one of the public meetings held to discuss what had gone wrong, a learned sheikh said, well, of course, you know, when it comes to the wali al amr, the powers that govern, we must remember that the religious are part of that as well as the secular government. And he was slapped-down immediately.
MCEVERS: Later, key religious figures were sacked and the religious police were reigned in. Slowly, Abdullah came to be known as a ruler committed to reform.
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BARBARA WALTERS: October 14, 2005. I'm Barbara Walters.
MCEVERS: Then in 2005, Abdullah's brother King Fahd died.
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WALTERS: Tonight an exclusive interview with King Abdullah, ruler of Saudi Arabia.
MCEVERS: And Abdullah assumed the throne.
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WALTERS: A flashpoint for Westerners is that Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world in which women are not allowed to drive.
KING ABDULLAH BIN ABDULAZIZ AL-SAUD: (Through interpreter) I believe strongly in the rights of women. I believe the day will come when women drive. The issue will require patience. In time, I believe it will be possible.
MCEVERS: That was 2005, but women still can't drive in Saudi Arabia. It has long been said that under Abdullah, the Saudi rulers wanted reform more than the Saudi people. But dissidents say that's just an excuse for inaction. Under Abdullah, the country did hold its first-ever elections for city councils. Jamal Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist and a longtime editor of a pro-reform newspaper.
JAMAL KHASHOGGI: Maybe not everything he believed in will be materialized. But he put us - or, he put the foundation for reform. At least he succeeded in making officials and the public accept the term reform. It is a beginning.
MCEVERS: The concern now, says Najla Saud al-Faraj, a Saudi woman who studied law during Abdullah's time, is whether that momentum toward reform will continue under the next Saudi king.
NAJLA SAUD AL FARAJ: I am definitely worried. I mean, I'm worried about future generations. What would my kids have? Let's say not being able to go to school, not being able to drive, not being able to have the job of their choice, just because of some gender issues. I mean, that doesn't make any sense.
MCEVERS: Faraj says she enjoyed some freedoms under Abdullah, but she's not sure if they will last.
Kelly McEvers, NPR News.
SIEGEL: The king of Saudi Arabia has died at age 90. According to Saudi state TV, he will be succeeded by Crown Prince Salman.