(AP/FOX News) Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, who ruled the world's largest oil-producing nation in name only since suffering a stroke in 1995, died Monday at the age of 84, the Saudi royal court said. Crown Prince Abdullah, the king's half brother and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, was appointed the country's new monarch. During his rule, the portly, goateed Fahd, who rose to the throne in 1982, helped fuel the rise of Islamic extremism by making multiple concessions to hard-liners, hoping to boost his Islamic credentials. But he also brought the kingdom closer to the U.S. and agreed to base U.S. troops on Saudi soil after the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
2005-08-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive