Riad N' The Bedouins was written by Axl Rose and Tommy Stinson and first performed live at The House Of Blues Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan 1, 2001

After the Chinese Democracy album was released, a copyright infringement claim was made on behalf of German Electronic Musician Ulrich Schnausson, GnR Managment counter claimed that the Ambient Noise clips were obtained legitimately

It has been suggested that the song may be in part written about unrest in Saudi Arabia

Also there is a traditional Arabic love story titled Hadith Bayad wa Riyad which seems to bare similarities to Romeo and Juliet, albeit with a happier ending, from what I understand a Syrian merchant son, Bayad, falls in love with a wealthy Iraqi daughter, Riyad. A lady of the court (her mother?) ultimately approves of the Union and they live happily ever after

the lyrics of the song itself speak of anger, betrayal, frustration and salvation, perhaps intertwining one or both of the above scenarios romantically with Axl's struggles and triumphs in the continuation of GnR after the departure of the remaining members of the original band, since tommy is co-writer of the track, it would suggest it was written after Duff MacKagan's departure in 1997 and Stinson's arrival to GnR in '98. Narrowing the songs origins even further, Buckethead, who was in GnR by 2000, Robin Finck and Brain seem to figure prominently in the song's arrangement with noticeable additions by Bumblefoot prior to the album release.

*just my rambling thoughts on the track...I don't claim that any of this is actually true