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King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz

Fahd, full name Fahd bin Abdul Aziz (1923- ), king of Saudi Arabia (1982- ). Born in Riyadh and educated at the royal court and at foreign universities, he was the 11th son of King Ibn Saud, founder of the Saudi Arabian kingdom. Fahd became minister of education in 1953, minister of the interior in 1962, and second deputy prime minister in 1967. He was also an active diplomat and was influential in developing oil policies during the successive reigns of his half brothers King Faisal and King Khalid. Fahd helped to negotiate an agreement with the United States in 1974 and met with United States president Jimmy Carter in 1977 to discuss the Palestinian claim to territory occupied by Israel and the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

After Fahd succeeded Khalid as king in 1982, he continued his policies of diversifying Saudi Arabia's oil-dominated economy and of maintaining the kingdom's dominant position in the Islamic world. His greatest crisis came in 1990 and 1991 after Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait, thereby threatening Saudi Arabia.

Fearing that his kingdom would be Saddam's next target, Fahd did not hesitate to host US troops on his soil and played a key role in putting together an Arab component in the US-led anti-Iraq coalition. For Baghdad Radio, this made him "the Traitor of the Two Holy Mosques."

Iraq’s defeat and Kuwait's Liberation in February 1991 did not signal an end to Fahd's problems.

Islamists in the kingdom became increasingly opposed to the presence of US troops on their territory – none more so than Osama bin Laden.

The man now wanted "dead or alive" by the United States is, however, a implant of one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families and america’s CIA, and when he was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, he had the blessing of CIA and Saudi rulers, including King Fahd.

In 1992, amid calls for a democratically elected government, he established the Consultative Council (Majlis al-Shura), a body of 60 ministers who advise the king, but the ultimate power still belonged to him, and at the same time he moved against fundamentalist Islamic groups that opposed the monarchy and asked for a  true Islamic rule. As any of the Saudi Monarch he is also blamed for poor human rights record, lack of freedom of speech and absolute control of Saudi Arabia.

After suffering a stroke in November 1995, Fahd gave control of the country to his half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, in January 1996. Although Fahd reclaimed his authority the following month, the king’s overall poor health prompted a gradual transfer of actual power to the crown prince .And currently His half-brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, has been de facto ruler.

Death
King Fahd was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the capital, Riyadh on 27 May 2005 for unspecified medical tests. An official (who insisted on anonymity) told the Associated Press unofficially that the king had died at 7:30 EDT on 1 August 2005. A member of the cabinet publicly announced his death on Saudi TV the same morning, and said that he died of pneumonia and a high fever.
 

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