Abdullah Becomes Saudi King On Death of Half Brother Fahd

Some analysts predicted that his first major decisions will be to fill vacancies. The second deputy prime ministership, second in line to the throne, was not announced Monday, although many people expect it will be Prince Nayef, the interior minister, who is viewed as a conservative even within the royal family. Another powerful brother is Prince Salman, the governor of Riyadh, seen by some as more encouraging of reform.

Another top job to fill is the intelligence position, made vacant after its ailing director stepped down this year. For months, Prince Saud bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, a son of the late king, has overseen its activities.

With Sultan becoming crown prince, he may resign as defense minister, opening that job. Similarly, Abdullah may give up his post as commander of the National Guard. Several analysts said they were waiting to see the fate of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the longtime U.S. ambassador who stepped down last month.

Part of that transition may make way for the grandsons of Abdul Aziz, who founded the kingdom in 1932. Unlike his sons, who received only rudimentary education before the onset of tremendous oil wealth, the younger generation is viewed as somewhat savvier and more tolerant of reform. Sons of both Abdullah and Sultan have emerged as forceful players, with independent reputations.

Fahd's Legacy

For the past decade, Fahd, the fourth son of Abdul Aziz to rule, receded from political life. He used a wheelchair and was seldom seen in public. He occasionally led cabinet meetings, but rarely spoke. His long autumn overshadowed the vigor of his early years as king, when he presided over a strengthening alliance with the United States in the 1980s, the cornerstone of his foreign policy.

After the onetime playboy ascended to the throne in June 1982, he poured billions into Saudi infrastructure, modernizing a country that was a backwater just half a century earlier. The revenue and Saudi Arabia's role as a swing producer -- able to guide global oil prices given its vast reserves -- cemented its position as one of the world's strategic economic powers.

The wealth helped Saudi Arabia spread its fiercely conservative brand of Islam throughout the Muslim world. It also enabled the kingdom's support for Afghan guerrillas fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan and for Iraq in its eight-year war with Iran, whose Islamic revolution was deemed a threat.

The war ended in 1988, to Iraq's advantage. Two years later, Iraq invaded Kuwait, prompting the decision that may prove one of Fahd's most important legacies. He invited 500,000 U.S. and other foreign troops into the country, the birthplace of Islam and home to Islam's most sacred shrines.

The move outraged conservative Muslims in Saudi Arabia and abroad and helped ignite the campaign by Osama bin Laden, then a wealthy and popular Saudi veteran of the Afghan war, to overthrow the family's rule.

Several months after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, hundreds of Islamic scholars wrote to Fahd seeking curbs on the royal family's power and a reversal of its pro-Western policies. Fahd introduced limited reform, appointing a 60-member advisory council to help rule the country. It now numbers 150 with expanded power, but remains handpicked by the royal family.