Saudi king hospitalized with pneumonia
5/27/2005, 1:41 p.m. ET
By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI
The Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — King Fahd, who moved Saudi Arabia closer to the United States during his two-decade rule, was taken to a Riyadh hospital on Friday for medical tests, the Saudi Press Agency said.
The official news agency carried a royal office statement saying King Fahd, who has been in frail health for years, was admitted to King Faisal specialist hospital in Riyadh for medical tests.
"We ask God ... to preserve and protect" the king, the statement said.
One official said doctors believe the monarch has pneumonia. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position.
Fahd, who rose to the throne in 1982, has been ruling in name only since he suffered a stroke in 1995. The stroke left Fahd with short-term memory loss and an inability to concentrate for long stretches. His half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, has been de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia since then.
Visitors who saw him after his stroke reported the king was barely aware of what was going on around him and could not recognize those who shook hands with him. Foreign dignitaries have been given brief meetings with the king, who usually is accompanied by close family members.
If Fahd dies, Abdullah is expected to take over as ruler.
Fahd, who is believed to be 82, is the son of the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, King Abdul-Aziz.
During his rule, Fahd brought the kingdom closer to the United States and agreed to a step that enraged many conservatives: the basing of U.S. troops on Saudi soil after the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
The troops later left.
Just wanted to share this touching story with you all.
WOUNDED MARINES LAY WREATH AT GROUND ZERO
May 27, 2005 11:38 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) Three Marines injured in Iraq last year laid a wreath near the World Trade Center site Friday following a 3-mile run by about 250 people, including Marines, Coast Guard members, police and firefighters.
The events were part of Fleet Week, when naval ships dock in New York each year.
Cedith Michael came to New York from her home in Lebanon, Ohio, to see her son, Lance Cpl. Mark Ryan Smith, 20, who recently returned from Iraq and docked in New York aboard the USS John F. Kennedy for Fleet Week.
Michael said she had waited several hours to see her son, who took part in the run.
"I didn't want to miss him," she said. "In the military, that's one thing you learn -- to wait."
Marine Capt. Dan McSweeney of Manhattan said visiting ground zero "forces you to remember that our world changed on Sept. 11, and that service members' lives continue to be directly impacted by the events of the day."
He said Marines felt a sense of belonging in New York. "The city's opened up its arms to us, and we really appreciate that," he said.
http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_147122148.html