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Saudis forced to look
inwards
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Never mind the smokescreen raised by
much of the media about al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia's royal
intelligence is investigating other militant groups in
connection with the car bomb that claimed the lives of
at least 17 people in a housing estate in the capital,
Riyadh, at the weekend.
Sources in Saudi Arabia
have told Asia Times Online that the ruling
establishment is aware of several emerging threats, but
is reluctant to name them for fear of admitting to the
presence of a "substantial number of enemies" in the
kingdom, which, until a few years ago, was exemplary for
its stability and peace.
The latest terror attack in Saudi Arabia - there was one
in May this year, also in a housing compound - follows
a recent sweep in Dharan and other eastern provinces
in which Saudi security forces captured a large cache
of arms and ammunition. A number of militants
were arrested, all of them Shi'ites suspected of links
with underground Saudi militant movements campaigning
against the monarchy, including the little-known al-Iqwan
and Saudi Hezbollah. Shi'ites are thought to be a majority
in the east, where, as it happens, most of the country's
oil lies.
The weapons cache was so
big that the Saudi establishment now believes that there
are strong supply lines behind the militants that pay
and arm them in their isolated desert hubs.
Shi'ites have long complained of discrimination
in Saudi Arabia, which is now particularly nervous about
the resurgence of the Shi'ite majority in neighboring
Iraq following the United States-led invasion that
toppled Sunni president Saddam Hussein. Most Saudis
belong to the austere Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam.
The September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the US,
in which 15 out of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, turned
the world's attention on Riyadh, which has traditionally
been a staunch US ally and home to thousands of its
troops until a few months ago. The Saudi royal
establishment's indirect role in support of Islamic
movements could no longer be brushed under the carpet.
And the US-led attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq
have given an emotional boost to various Saudi dissident
groups, including those who fought in the Afghan war in
the 1980s against the Soviets and which had some
connection with al-Qaeda - including some members of the
vast royal family who are known to have met, and have
some sympathy for, Osama bin Laden's cause.
The
Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA) is headed
by Dr Saad al-Fagih, a Saudi dissident based in London.
This was a little-know group before September 11, but
its profile has been considerably raised since then.
Nowadays, Saad is frequently quoted in the world's
media, most recently for his calls for protests in
Riyadh. He's also one of the "experts" that the media
like to draw on to understand what makes bin Laden tick.
Despite the group's extremist notions, it is
still allowed to operate in the United Kingdom, while
other such outfits have had their wings clipped. It
should be added, though, that MIRA is not known to be
directly involved in militancy, but it does aim to
inflame sentiment against all of the pillars of power in
the Saudi monarchy, including King Fahd, Crown Prince
Abdullah, the royal family and the clergy.
Certainly, Saudi Arabia's rulers have their
internal problems. As US allies, they publicly declared
their support for the Bush administration's "war on
terror" and enthusiastically embarked on a roundup of
suspects. However, a number of their targets were
Shi'ite dissidents who had nothing to do with any global
campaigns, rather they were involved in an internal
power struggle against the royal establishment.
The royal family, though, is itself split, with
many of its members taking sides with hardliners. There
are about 14,000 male members in the royal family, so
naturally only a few hundred hold key positions, with
the remainder left to simply wear the royal tag on their
chests. In such a politically-locked society, bin
Laden's slogan-based militant politicking is one way of
letting off steam.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times
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