Two years after bombings, Saudi al Qaeda weakened
Dominic Evans

RIYADH (Reuters) - Two years after al Qaeda opened a new front in its global struggle with a wave of suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, its local network is fragmented but splinter groups still threaten the oil-exporting giant.

Analysts say a security crackdown after the May 12, 2003 bombings — which killed dozens of people including nine Americans — has broken up the cells which waged a series of bombings, shootings and kidnapping in Saudi Arabia.

And a sustained media campaign to drain support for the violence, combined with modest political reform and a sharp upswing in oil prices, has helped the absolute monarchy ride out, for now, its most serious challenge in years.

“It’s been clear for a long time that the militants were diminishing, although not a defeated force,” said Kevin Rosser of London-based Control Risks, pointing to the declining sophistication of attacks since 2003.

This Reuters analysis is a good–if less than profoundly deep–look at the current state of the war against terror in Saudi Arabia. A lot has been done; Al-Qaeda has been gravely weakened. But, as the piece notes, Saudis who have been involved in fighting in Iraq are going to come home someday, bringing with them more military tactics than the indigenous terrorists have been using so far.

In a related story, Reuters also reports that the US is considering revising its current travel advisory concerning Saudi Arabia:

FBI chief may review Saudi travel warning
By Dominic Evans

RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States may review travel advice urging U.S. citizens to leave Saudi Arabia after recent successes by security forces against militants, FBI director Robert Mueller said on Wednesday.

Mueller, speaking after talks with de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, said the country where Osama bin Laden and most of the September 11 hijackers were born has taken “remarkable strides in addressing al Qaeda.”

The United States warned its citizens to leave Saudi Arabia in April last year during a string of attacks on Westerners, which culminated in the storming of an expatriate compound in the Gulf city of Al-Khobar, when 22 civilians were killed.

Since then security forces have killed or arrested many leading militants and attacks have been less frequent, less sophisticated and less deadly.

Congratulating Saudi Arabia on its “victories,” Mueller said there was still a terrorist threat in the country but “it is being addressed forcefully by the Mabahith (domestic security) and other security services.”

“…As the security in the kingdom is improved by the successes in the last few months my expectation is that (travel) advisories will periodically be reviewed and changes may well be made,” he said.

Most of the 35,000 U.S. citizens working and living in the oil-rich kingdom are believed to have ignored last year’s warning, but up to a quarter may have left.

The piece goes on to cite the current level of cooperation between US and Saudi anti-terror offices:

FINGERPRINTS

Mueller said he had discussed with Saudi officials possible exchanges of fingerprints of suspected terrorists as well as better ways to identify them at border crossings.

He also praised what he said was the regular and swift exchange of information between Riyadh and Washington. Until al Qaeda began its campaign of violence against Saudi Arabia itself two years ago, U.S. officials had privately complained at a lack of cooperation from Saudi counterparts.

“We exchange information on a daily basis,” he said. “There is rarely a day that there is not a meeting between members of the Mabahith and representatives of U.S. security services.”

He said Saudi Arabia, believed to be the major source of al Qaeda funding before Sept. 11, 2001, had also made “substantial strides” in drying up money flows to militants. But, like other countries, it still had “a way to go.”

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry named on Tuesday a man arrested in a shootout in the Saudi capital this week as Abdulaziz al-Inazi. It said he published articles on the Internet justifying the shedding of non-Muslim blood.

At least 90 civilians have been killed in attacks on Westerners and Saudi government sites since May 2003 as part of the militants’ campaign to destabilize the world’s biggest oil exporter and major U.S. ally.

The very real changes in US-Saudi cooperation on the anti-terror front (among others) often gets missed in reporting, as does the serious work by Saudi security officials to rid the country of its worst extremists.

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