Wake up call for the Saudi’s part deux
The NYTimes is reporting that support among some Saudi’s for OBL is eroding quickly:
*snip*In the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, there were reports of a certain celebratory air in some Saudi neighborhoods, of congratulatory messages sent back and forth on mobile phones. In that and subsequent violence, the attackers seemed to be succeeding in reaching a constituency that among other things wants to remove a ruling family it sees as American stooges.
But that mood, fueled by the sense that behind it all was some sort of religious endorsement, is diminished, replaced by confusion and the uneasy feeling that the bombings this year are just the opening salvos in a very long fight.
“They can no longer say they are more or less raising the banner of jihad,” said Saad A. Sowayan, a professor specializing in Bedouin poetry at King Saud University, sipping orange juice in a hotel coffee shop. “Jihad is not against your own people.”
The fact that the targets were fellow Muslims lent the sense that the attackers might just be pursuing pure chaos. “If they were really seeking change they would resort to actions that would win them the support of the people,” the professor said. “Before, people could find excuses. It is getting so irrational that you cannot explain it, you cannot defend it, you cannot understand it.”*snip*
My comments: I think the Saudi’s should realize at this point that OBL isn’t doing this for any “jihad.” He’s doing this for himself and his selfish ambitions. It’s been my opinion all along that the support for OBL amongst the Saudi royals didn’t come from the top of the royal family, but someone lower on the scale. I think this confirms it. OBL isn’t happy that the US and Saudi Arabia still have somewhat friendly relations. This attack was a way of expressing that, IMO. Perhaps this will force the Saudi’s to rethink their ways in terms of who and what causes they support.
Rich Lowry also wrote an op/ed about this topic today:
The Saudi royal family can only be thinking, “What good is protection money if it doesn’t protect you?”
The al-Qaida attack during the weekend in Riyadh is the latest sign that the kingdom’s corrupt deal with Islamic extremists has broken down. The Saudis have been the foremost funders of extremism and terrorism abroad, with the implicit understanding that Osama bin Laden and Co. would “behave,” i.e., practice their murderous mayhem only against the infidels. The bloodshed on Saudi soil now shows that the royal family’s policy, in the words of Talleyrand, was worse than a crime, it was a mistake.
Whether the House of Saud responds by turning decisively against the extremists will help determine the long-term success of the U.S. war on terror, and whether the royal family survives or meets an unsightly end in “chop-chop square” (the site of public beheadings). There would be poetic justice in the Saudis getting consumed by the forces of hatred they have done so much to stoke and to appease, but a Taliban-style regime in Riyadh would be a catastrophe.*snip*