There he addressed British and Omani troops on the equally harsh soil of the Arabian peninsula - not far from where the world's most wanted man lived until he found his lethal calling.
"Many Omani men and women are training hard to become tomorrow's Olympic champions.
The latest employment figures show that 88.4% of more than 150,000 civil service staff are Omani citizens.
"You've just started World War III," an Omani officer told a visiting marine when the bombing started on Sunday.
More than two dozen government officials and a handful more Omani residents have been brought to trial in cases linked to corruption.
Omani investors have promised to inject $100m into Tanzania's pitiful national airline, hoping to revive direct flights to Muscat, the Omani capital.
The Portuguese then came in the 16th century and conquered all the seaports on the eastern African coast, including Mombasa, the richest and most powerful, as well as such islands as Zanzibar and parts of the Arabian coast, including the Omani capital of Muscat.
Similarly, most Omani men wear the dishdashah, or thawb, a traditional woven cotton robe, and male headgear consists of a light turban of cotton or wool, known as a muzzar.
It also promotes Omani literature and has printed an encyclopaedia of Omani heritage.
During the 18th century the Āl Bū Saʿīd dynasty expelled a Persian occupation and established Omani control over much of the Persian Gulf.
Virtually cut off from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula by vast deserts, Omani sailors traveled the waters of the Indian Ocean and ranged as far as China by the 15th century.
