The end game
Reader comment on item: Arabia's Civil War

Submitted by jms (United States), May 14, 2003 at 16:59

Osama bin Laden wants to depose the corrupt and hypocritical Saudi monarchy, install a Taliban-like government, evict non-Muslim foreigners.

This is why I think that this weeks events are so tremendously important. I don't know if it's true or not, but Debka reported an assassination attempt on Prince Sultan on the 6th, and the bombings were a very visible attack on what was supposed to be a government-protected target.

The message was absolutely clear. The depth of planning and execution that went into those raids showed the Saudi government that no target is now safe. Those western compounds could just as easily have been Saudi palaces, and in a certain sense the overkill of the attacks made them appear to be a test run for attacks on palaces and government facilities.

I think that this attack (and alleged assassination attempt) probably mean two things:

1) Al Queda believes that the United States leaving Saudi Arabia is an indication that they are winning, or about to win.

2) Al Queda now feels that it has enough resources to overthrow the Saudi monarchy, and has just taken a big, bloody bite out of the hand that has been feeding them.

Either way, it signals the beginning of the end-game for Al Queda. With the primary grievance of U.S. troops on Saudi soil "resolved" (by the U.S. pulling out), Al Queda is now moving on to the second item on their agenda -- the destruction of the Saudi government and removal of western influences. The Saudi government may have turned a blind eye to Al Queda attacks on Americans, but this is something entirely different.

The United States has long accused the Saudi government of covering up intelligence about Al Queda activities within Saudi Arabia. Now that the very existance of the Saudi regime is in peril, we may begin to see mass arrests and disappearances of Al Queda operatives inside Saudi Arabia (although they may not be reported.)

The mere removal of U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia may have done more to bring on the purge of Al Queda from Saudi Arabia than any U.S. military action could possibly have done, and will either overthrow the Saudi royal family, or leave them in power, hands dripping with Al Queda blood.

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