Word: saudi
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Some U.S. investigators think the Saudis could be learning a lot more about al-Qaeda members they have captured or killed. These officials say their Saudi counterparts have not seemed interested in setting up an analytical unit to pore over the suspects' financial records, computer hard drives, emails, phone records and other data. "Their attitude has been, 'Swift Sword is dead, so what use are his records?'" says a U.S. official. "Everybody's been looking for bullets and bombs, but nobody's paid any attention to the paper." The Americans hope to use the task force to convince the Saudis...
Cracking heads and crunching data aren't the only ways to combat terrorism; there's also the matter of changing minds. Most Saudis greatly resent the implication that Wahhabism, the puritanical brand of Islam practiced in the kingdom, has any connection to terrorism. Still, some are beginning to acknowledge that Saudi culture has bred an antipathy toward non-Muslims ("infidels" in Muslim parlance) that can lead to violence. After the May 12 attacks, the newspaper al-Watan made just that link in a series of articles and cartoons. That proved to be too much for the Council of Senior Islamic...
Whether Prince Abdullah accepts that there is a cultural problem or just thinks he needs to improve his p.r. with the West, he has begun to address his country's reputation for chauvinism. TV's Channel 1, which like all Saudi media is state controlled, has begun to air a program called War on Terrorism. It has featured footage of the Sept. 11 and May 12 attacks as well as old speeches by Saudi leaders urging respect for foreign countries. In an effort to cool the rhetoric in Saudi mosques, authorities say they have arrested nine militant clerics...
Like the mosques, Saudi schools have been the subject of scrutiny. Saudi textbooks have been laced with passages that not only extol the supremacy of Islam but also denigrate nonbelievers. An eighth-grade book states that Allah cursed Jews and Christians and turned some of them into apes and pigs. Ninth-graders learn that Judgment Day will not come "until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them." A chapter for a 10th-grade class warns Muslims against befriending non-Muslims, saying, "It is compulsory for the Muslims to be loyal to each other and to consider the infidels their...
What kinds of changes are the Saudis making? Education Minister Mohammed al-Rasheed told TIME that the government had scratched the entire fifth chapter of a 10th-grade text that described how Muslims and non-believers were historical enemies. An excerpt detailing "ways to show hatred to the infidel" charges that "it is forbidden to show happiness during the holidays of the infidels." The minister noted that three Koranic messages encouraging tolerance would be included in Saudi texts. One of them says, "Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for your faith nor to drive...