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President Obama is in the midst of his first trip to the Middle East as president, a region that many Americans think the U.S. is too involved in. The public is divided as to how effective the U.S. can be in promoting peace there.

Mr. Obama's first stop in the region is Saudi Arabia. Many Americans view that country negatively: a February Gallup Poll found 31 percent had a favorable opinion of Saudi Arabia, while twice as many, fully six in 10, were unfavorable.



One reason for some of those negative views may be that many Americans see the country's government as repressive. In April of 2008, 64 percent of Americans told the Pew Global Attitudes Project Poll that the government of Saudi Arabia does not respect the personal freedoms of its people.

The public's views of Saudi-U.S. relations are more positive. A December 2006 CNN Poll found more than half of Americans described Saudi Arabia as friendly or an ally, and 36 percent considered it unfriendly or an enemy.

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In Saudi Arabia, where President Obama arrived Wednesday morning, the legal system is based on Sharia, or Islamic law. It is illegal to spend time alone with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not related, to drink, to smoke, or to engage in other behaviors deemed immoral. There is little freedom of expression and no freedom of religion. The media is state-controlled. The State Department has reported that religious police "intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners" and has also reported on the "denial of public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system." Men have extensive power over women, who cannot drive vehicles or work without permission. Abuse of migrant workers is common, and torture is "widespread and committed with impunity," according to Amnesty International. One possible punishment for theft is amputation. Homosexuality, blasphemy, "witchcraft" and some other non-violent offenses are punishable by death.

In Egypt, where the president speaks Thursday, Emergency Law was recently extended. According to Human Rights Watch, that means authorities can "detain persons arbitrarily and try them in special security courts that do not meet international fair trial standards." Freedom of expression, religion and assembly are limited. Last year, according to the State Department, "security forces used unwarranted lethal force and tortured and abused prisoners and detainees," largely without consequences. During President Hosni Mubarak's 28 years in power, dissidents have been harassed and imprisoned. Student political groups are prohibited at the university where Mr. Obama plans to speak, and deans are chosen by the administration; one student blogger was recently jailed for two months for "public agitation."

When he arrived in Saudi Arabia, President Obama did not publicly discuss human rights issues. Of the country's head of state, King Abdullah, he said this: "I've been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness." The White House said following a private meeting that the two men discussed "a wide range of issues," including energy and Middle East peace, but human rights abuses was not listed among them.

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A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**President Obama arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia just after 7:30am ET...

**Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor continues meeting with Senators; Newt Gingrich says his labeling of her as "racist" was "too strong and direct"...

**Gov. Pawlenty's retirement announcement raises speculation about his political future...

PRESIDENT'S OVERSEAS TRIP: "President Barack Obama began his latest bid to open a dialogue with the Muslim world by paying a call Wednesday on Saudi King Abdullah, guardian of Islam's sacred sites in Mecca and Medina," reports the Associated Press' Mark S. Smith.

"The monarch of Saudi Arabia greeted Obama at Riyadh's main airport with a ceremony when the new U.S. president arrived after an overnight flight from Washington. ... Perched on ornate chairs behind a flower arrangement, Obama and Abdullah then chatted briefly in public and shook hands, with cameras capturing the scene. Then, they retreated to hold private talks on a range of issues."

Regarding Mr. Obama's speech in Cairo tomorrow, writes the Washington Post's Anthony Shadid, "he will face the legacy of names like Haditha, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, places that have become more symbol than geography over nearly a decade of perhaps the most traumatic chapter in America's relationship with the Muslim world.

"More than any other president in a generation, Obama enjoys a reservoir of goodwill in the region. His father was Muslim. His outreach in an interview with an Arabic satellite channel, a speech to Turkey's parliament and an address to Iranians on the Persian New Year have inclined many to listen. Just as important, he is not George W. Bush.

"But Obama will still encounter a landscape in which two realities often seem to be at work, shaped by those symbols."

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President Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia next week where he will meet with Saudi King Abdullah, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced today.

The meeting will take place on June 3rd in Riyadh Gibbs said the two leaders will "discuss a range of important issues, including Middle East peace, Iran, and terrorism."

The Saudi stop has been added to the president's previously planned trip to Egypt, Germany and France.

Mr. Obama plans to address U.S.-Muslim relations in Egypt, visit the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, and mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day in France.

The stop in Riyadh will come at the beginning of the trip.