x.com/razitahirpak/status/2101266528461378006?s=46
1 correction found
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud honored him with a reward and took him all the way to the Kaaba, to the Kiswah of the Kaaba.
This is false: official records of George W. Bush’s Saudi visits show he went to Riyadh and Al-Janadriyah, not Mecca or the Kaaba. Saudi official tourism guidance also states that non-Muslims may not enter Makkah.
Full reasoning
Official U.S. government records of President George W. Bush’s foreign travel contradict this claim. The State Department’s Office of the Historian lists Bush’s Saudi trips as visits to Riyadh and Al-Janadriyah on January 14–16, 2008 and May 16–17, 2008; it does not list Mecca/Makkah or the Kaaba.
That matters because the post specifically claims Bush was taken "to the Kaaba, to the Kiswah of the Kaaba." But Saudi official tourism guidance says: “Non-muslims may not enter Makkah at any point during their visit to Saudi Arabia.” Since Bush was not Muslim, that directly contradicts the idea that he was escorted to the Kaaba in Mecca.
There is also a chronology problem with the implication that this happened under King Salman. Bush left office in January 2009, while official Saudi biographical material says King Salman assumed the rule on January 23, 2015. So any Bush-era Saudi visit happened years before Salman became king.
Taken together, the official itinerary, Saudi access rules for Makkah, and the dates of Salman’s reign show that the post’s description of Bush being taken to the Kaaba is not accurate.
3 sources
- George W. Bush - Travels of the President - Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State
The State Department itinerary lists Bush’s Saudi visits as: “Saudi Arabia | Riyadh, Al-Janadriyah | Met with King Abdullah | January 14–16, 2008” and again “Saudi Arabia | Riyadh, Al-Janadriyah | Met with King Abdullah | May 16–17, 2008.”
- Tourist visa - Discover Saudi
The page states: “Non-muslims may not enter Makkah at any point during their visit to Saudi Arabia.”
- Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - Saudipedia
Saudipedia says Salman’s current position is “King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 2015” and that “He assumed the rule on January 23, 2015.”