Riyadh: A New Front Against US

America's fortunes in the Gulf were in free-fall once again yesterday after a suicide bombing in Riyadh that appeared to be aimed at undermining the Saudi monarchy - the key US ally in the Gulf.

No one had claimed responsibility last night, but the shadow of the fugitive Saudi national Osama bin Laden hangs over this latest outrage. At least 11 Arab expatriates were killed and 120 others - many of them women and children - were injured in a massive car bomb attack on a residential compound in Riyadh.

Those killed included Saudis, Sudanese and Egyptians. No Westerners were believed to have died. Among the wounded were Americans and Canadians, as well as people from Africa, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Pakistan, Romania and Sri Lanka. Two Britons who lived in the compound were found safe and unhurt.

The explosion was detonated a day after the American, British and other Western diplomatic missions were closed because of warnings of just such a terrorist attack.

Western diplomats believe that as many as 30 people may have been killed in the bombing late on Saturday. A number of Americans were being treated in hospital.

"We pulled out eight bodies from the rubble," a Filipino rescue worker at the scene of the blast told The Independent yesterday. "Most of them were children."

The attack, the second spectacular suicide bombing in the Saudi capital in six months, was made by a suicide bomber driving a stolen police car. It caused utter devastation, levelling eight villas and blowing out the windows of buildings within a square mile.

A day before the 12 May bombings, a Saudi Islamist group believed to be close to Bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network called for revenge attacks on US interests after a huge arms seizure from Islamic militants in Riyadh the week before. The same organisation, called the Mujahideen of the Arabian Peninsula, again urged its followers to strike and destroy Western and Saudi regime interests just hours before the latest bombing.

It was partly because of that statement, issued on an Islamist website, that the US embassy in Riyadh and diplomatic missions in Jeddah and Dhahran had been closed on the day of the attack, in response to intelligence reports suggesting that terrorists had moved from the "planning to the operational" phase of their attacks.

Bin Laden had issued a fatwa in the 1990s urging his followers to refrain from attacks in the kingdom because revenues from its oil industry would be needed to consolidate an Islamic revolution. The Saudi decision to aid the US-led war on Iraq changed all that, with Bin Laden for the first time explicitly calling for attacks inside the kingdom.

The attack is a clear sign to the rulers and military that al-Qa'ida is willing and able to attack in the heart of Saudi Arabia, despite the security clampdown and intelligence co-operation between the CIA and Saudi intelligence services in Riyadh.

The bombing provoked near-universal outrage among Saudis, who awoke yesterday morning to find gruesome images of those injured by flying glass on the front pages of newspapers. No one could understand why fellow Arabs had been the target. Many initially refused to believe it could have been the work of al-Qa'ida, especially as the bomber struck in the middle of the fasting month of Ramadan. Conspiracy theories about CIA and Mossad involvement started to surface.

If it was indeed al-Qa'ida, it may ultimately be seen as a spectacular own goal. The attack will damage the support the organisation has in Saudi Arabia, where anti-US sentiment has been fed by America's support for Israel's crackdown on the intifada and the occupation of neighbouring Iraq.

The kingdom has become the front line in the so-called war on terror. Since 12 May, more than 600 suspected Islamists have been arrested and more than 2,000 interrogated. Saudi security forces have lost a dozen men in almost weekly battles with al-Qa'ida cells, and killed more than 15.

The bombing could have been launched on the basis of outdated information that the compound was home to mostly Americans and Britons, others argue. Until the late 1990s, it had been occupied and sponsored by the American aircraft and defence equipment manufacturer Boeing.

America's fortunes in the Gulf were in free-fall once again yesterday after a suicide bombing in Riyadh

Well in that case, it was a good thing, right Independent UK?

The Guardian writer is whistling in the dark. The attack in Riyadh was a "Battle Police" action by the AQ, an effort to keep their their Arab base from wavering; a not so gentle reminder to give till it hurts, or it will hurt the more. Say rather that the battle for Iraq has come to Riyadh. Goering once said Berliners would never see Mustangs over the capital. The Saudis have discovered that war has come to their very tent flap. It is the beginning of the end.

gruesome images of those injured by flying glass

========================================

Glass causes particulary gruesome injuries. Glass particles can remain in the body for years.

"Goering once said Berliners would never see Mustangs over the capital."

He was probably correct until the Brits put the Rolls-Royce 'Merlin' engine into them. The original American version was under powered.

Actually, the situation in Saudi Arabia seems so complicated that it's hard for us (that is, anybody who is not part of the Saudi weirdness) to sort it out.

AQ has always been an enemy of the official Saudi regime, even though the regime would appear to anybody outside of that country to be a classic dictatorial inherited monarchy that has devoted itself to an extremist Islam - and should therefore be exempt from AQ attacks.

At the same time, the regime in Saudi Arabia has used the wealth to give lots of perks to Saudis, and it doesn't seem to me (from a distance) that there's a lot of popular discontent with the regime.

Do we have any Freepers on the ground in SA who could give us an explanation of this?

"Riyadh: A New Front Against US"

Uh no Europe - Saudi Arabia is NOT Part of the US - but that's still some creative propaganda on your part anyway guys.

I have nothing but sympathy for the victims of this attack, but I can't help but feel that the attacks in Saudi Arabia are a positive sign. Since the fall of Baghdad, we have increasingly seen Arab terrorists attacking other Arabs. If they keep it up, maybe at least some Arab governments will wake up and smell the coffee. The time has come to choose: you are with us -- that is to say, the civilized world -- or you are with the terrorists. No more straddling the middle, giving lip service to civilization while quietly funneling money to those who would bring it crashing down.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.