Word: kingdoms
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...timing of the attack raises some interesting questions. The Saudi authorities had been hot on the trail of 19 suspected al-Qaeda members inside the kingdom for the past two weeks. So there may be some question over whether the attacks were originally planned for this particular date, or whether they were carried out by a group under pressure who chose to stage the best attack they could before being caught by the Saudi authorities...
...Scott MacLeod: One explanation for the previous avoidance had been that al-Qaeda lacked a capability inside the kingdom to launch attacks. But the Riyadh bombings show plainly that they had the capability, so why didn't they use it? Another reason might be that they feared a backlash from ordinary Saudis. Many Saudis may sympathize with Bin Laden's ideas, but they don't want to see their country convulsing with chaos and violence. And, of course, terror attacks inside the kingdom would also invite a crackdown on those most sympathetic to Bin Laden's ideas. But these attacks...
...recent months, Abdullah has been holding more town meetings, unprecedented in the Kingdom, with prominent groups of Saudis, including intellectuals, civic leaders and minority Shiite Muslims. The government has also begun creating professional unions as a step toward participation in civil society. Even elections, still almost unthinkable in a country ruled by a family dynasty for a century, are on the table. One Western diplomat calls it all the "Riyadh Spring," likening developments to the wave of political liberalism that flowered in communist-ruled Prague in the late 1960s...
...been in 1990, before the first Gulf War. Back then, the U.S. had maintained a close military relationship, in terms of training, arms supply and so on, that stretched back decades without causing the sort of domestic political problems that have accompanied the stationing of U.S. troops inside the kingdom since Operation Desert Shield. Now they can revert to that relationship, because the demise of Saddam means the official reason for the U.S. troop presence no longer exists...
...spectre of Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia's millionaire prodigal son, continues to haunt the Kingdom, but quite typically, the authorities decided to confront the issue with both firmness and considerable tact...