RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — After a rebuff last month from King Abdullah, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates met privately with him for an hour and a half on Wednesday in an attempt to thaw ice-cold relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Mr. Gates described the one-on-one session with the Saudi ruler to reporters as an "extremely cordial, warm meeting," but his comments lasted barely a minute before he was whisked away by aides. Mr. Gates did say that he declined to raise with the king one of the most contentious issues separating the two countries: the Saudi decision to ignore President Obama last month and send in troops to crush an uprising in neighboring Bahrain.
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