New Saudi tack on Al Qaeda
The arrest of 172 suspected militants reveals a Saudi public that is helping in the fight against the terrorist group.
from the April 30, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
"Society became the main source of intelligence … there are many cases when the information is coming from the family. Someone calls and says my son or brother has disappeared and I believe he has been recruited," Alani says.
There's no question that Al Qaeda's ability to successfully carry out attacks inside Saudi Arabia has been severely degraded in recent years.
According to data compiled by Alani, 50 civilians and members of the security services were killed by Islamist militants inside the kingdom in 2003, 68 in 2004, and seven in 2006. Alani didn't provide data for 2005, but a review of press reports from that year shows at least five deaths.
Saudi Arabia has also moved away from what appeared to have been a state of denial regarding Al Qaeda. In 2002, there were a series of assassinations of local officials and foreigners in the country, but at the time the Saudi government described many of the killings of the foreigners as tied to gangs involved in alcohol smuggling (alcohol is illegal in the Kingdom).
"It's been night and day, says a European businessman in Riyadh who has worked inside the kingdom for 10 years and was friends with one of the first foreigners killed, British banker Simon Veness, murdered by a bomb placed in his car.
"They were going on and on about this being gang violence – everyone knew it was Al Qaeda, but the government didn't want to admit it had a problem.... Now, they seem to be grappling with the reality."
The Saudi government still typically refers to Al Qaeda – whose leader, Osama bin Laden, is a Saudi – not by name, but as a "deviant group."
This time, at least one official was more blunt. Those arrested, "are carriers of Al Qaeda ideology, working on achieving Al Qaeda goals," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told the Associated Press.
While the security services have shown some improvement in confronting the terrorist threat, Faris bin Hizam says the government still has a long way to go in the battle against Al Qaeda.
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