Crackdown cuts no ice
The capture of the alleged mastermind behind the Riyadh bombings is doing little to pacify right-wing anti-Saudi voices in the Bush administration, writes John R Bradley from Jeddah
The alleged mastermind behind the 12 May Riyadh bombings, Ali Abdul-Rahman Al-Faqasi Al-Ghamdi, last week handed himself over to the deputy interior minister in Jeddah following public appeals from his family to do so and guarantees of a fair trial and a sentence that takes into account his repentance, according to Saudi officials.
US counter-terrorism officials in Washington predicted the arrest would severely hamper Al- Qa'eda's operations in Saudi Arabia because Al-Ghamdi was one of the organisation's top operatives there.
The 29-year-old Saudi, who fought with Al- Qa'eda during the US war in Afghanistan, made several trips to that country. Al-Ghamdi was at Tora Bora, near the Afghan border with Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden was thought to be hiding, in late 2001, but he left before the US bombing began.
However, despite this latest victory in the kingdom's dramatic crackdown on Al-Qa'eda and its supporters, which has seen over 40 arrested and more than 1,000 questioned, the Saudis continue to come in for a pounding from right-wing elements of the Bush administration. "The problem we are looking at today is the state-sponsored doctrine and funding of an extremist ideology that provides the recruiting grounds, support infrastructure and monetary lifeblood to today's international terrorists," said Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, at a session last week on terrorist funding.
Other senators, anti-terrorism experts and the Treasury Department's general counsel, David Aufhauser, said Saudi institutions give huge sums to finance Wahhabite schools and mosques they accuse of teaching religious intolerance and anti-West ideology.
"In many ways [Saudi Arabia] is the epicentre" for the financing of the Al-Qa'eda network and other terrorist groups, said Aufhauser.
"The Saudis' huge, largely un-monitored spending to disseminate the Wahhabism views worldwide is a combustible compound when mixed with religious teachings in thousands of Islamic schools," he added. "It's a very important factor to be taken into account in the fight against terrorist financing."
The Wahhabi movement, part of the Sunni Muslim branch, was founded in Saudi Arabia in the 18th century. The Saudi state now depends on an alliance between this religious group and the Saudi royal family.
In Saudi Arabia, Turki Nasser Al-Dandani, another key Saudi operator for Al-Qa'eda and a second main suspect in the Riyadh bombings, remains at large. US officials say the arrested Al-Ghamdi has been linked to Saif Al-Adil and Abu Mohamed Al-Masri, two of the most senior Al-Qa'eda operatives who remain at large and are thought to be hiding in Iran.
Al-Ghamdi was born in Riyadh. He majored in economics and business at King Abdul-Aziz University, but dropped out before obtaining a degree.
He was also among the 19 alleged militants wanted since Saudi police discovered a weapons cache in Riyadh early last month. While on the run, he had posted e-mail messages denying any involvement in the Riyadh blasts but saying that he sympathised with the aims of those who carried them out.
Last week, both de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, and Interior Minister Prince Naif met tribal leaders and intellectuals from across the Hejaz region in Jeddah, from where many of the alleged terrorists hail. All predictably declared their "full support" for the ruling family.
