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Editor's
Note:
The
Saudi-American Forum
wishes to thank the
Middle East
Institute
(MEI) for
permission to share
this MEI
"Perspective"
with you.
This
article
appeared as a
Commentary in
the May 15,
2003, edition
of The Los
Angeles Times.
The views
expressed in
this
perspective do
not
necessarily
reflect the
views of the
Middle East
Institute,
which does not
take positions
on Middle East
polic
As
in Egypt in 1997, the
killings will fuel a
backlash against
extremists.
The
brutality of the crime
will not soon be
forgotten. Gunmen
stepped out of their
vehicles, quickly
approached the site,
shot the security
guards patrolling the
area and then
indiscriminately
murdered anyone in
their path. Foreigners
began evacuating the
country immediately.
The government, having
battled the same
extremists for more
than a decade, engaged
forcefully in a
wide-scale crackdown
on radical Islamic
groups.
The
country was Egypt. The
city was Luxor. The
date was Nov. 17,
1997.
This
particular act of
terrorism claimed the
lives of 58 tourists.
Gamaa al Islamiya,
headed by an Egyptian,
Ayman Zawahiri, who
would become Osama bin
Laden's top deputy,
claimed responsibility
for the largest
massacre of foreigners
in recent Egyptian
history.
Despite
the difference in time
and place, there are a
number of factors
linking Luxor and
Monday's suicide
attacks in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia. First,
compelling evidence
indicates that both
incidents bear the
Zawahiri signature,
one that has come to
identify Al Qaeda
attacks. Although
intelligence officials
in the U.S. are just
now being dispatched
to the kingdom to
investigate, Saudi
officials have already
announced what we
believe to be true: Al
Qaeda masterminded the
well-coordinated and
near-simultaneous
strikes on civilian
targets - its
terrorist trademark.
Second,
the attacks had a
common agenda: to
undermine leaders in
Cairo and Riyadh,
respectively. This
week's bombing was not
a stab at the Middle
East peace process,
nor was it aimed
primarily at the
United States. There
are scores of other
installations in the
kingdom and elsewhere
that would have been
better proxies for
Washington and led to
greater American
casualties.
This
was an attack aimed at
U.S. support for Saudi
Arabia, at the Saudi
government itself and
particularly at Crown
Prince Abdullah.
Vinnell Corp. was
targeted not because
it was American but
because of its
long-standing contract
to train the Saudi
National Guard, headed
by Abdullah. And this
is not the first
attack on Vinnell and
the Saudi National
Guard.
In
November 1995, a bomb
blast at a Saudi
National Guard
training base left
seven people dead,
including several
Americans.
One
final similarity: in
Egypt, the excess and
savagery deprived the
terrorists of popular
support and places to
hide. As millions of
tourists traveled
elsewhere, the
precipitous decline in
foreign revenues
caused widespread
economic hardship.
The
Luxor violence rallied
Egyptians behind their
government and marked
the beginning of the
end for Gamaa Al
Islamiya. The Egyptian
government cracked
down unequivocally;
most of the group's
leaders were jailed or
fled to Afghanistan,
and they were publicly
reviled.
A
similar popular
revulsion is beginning
to take hold in Saudi
Arabia. After all, a
substantial number of
this week's victims -
not counting the
bombers - were Saudis.
Already our
conversations with
people in the region
indicate that the
devastation caused by
these terrorists has
fomented a backlash
against religious
extremists. Ordinary
Saudis are saying
khalas! -
"enough!" -
as the death toll
mounts.
As
in Egypt in 1997, the
killings will fuel a
backlash against
extremists.
The
brutality of the crime
will not soon be
forgotten. Gunmen
stepped out of their
vehicles, quickly
approached the site,
shot the security
guards patrolling the
area and then
indiscriminately
murdered anyone in
their path. Foreigners
began evacuating the
country immediately.
The government, having
battled the same
extremists for more
than a decade, engaged
forcefully in a
wide-scale crackdown
on radical Islamic
groups.
The
country was Egypt. The
city was Luxor. The
date was Nov. 17,
1997.
This
particular act of
terrorism claimed the
lives of 58 tourists.
Gamaa al Islamiya,
headed by an Egyptian,
Ayman Zawahiri, who
would become Osama bin
Laden's top deputy,
claimed responsibility
for the largest
massacre of foreigners
in recent Egyptian
history.
Despite
the difference in time
and place, there are a
number of factors
linking Luxor and
Monday's suicide
attacks in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia. First,
compelling evidence
indicates that both
incidents bear the
Zawahiri signature,
one that has come to
identify Al Qaeda
attacks. Although
intelligence officials
in the U.S. are just
now being dispatched
to the kingdom to
investigate, Saudi
officials have already
announced what we
believe to be true: Al
Qaeda masterminded the
well-coordinated and
near-simultaneous
strikes on civilian
targets - its
terrorist trademark.
Second,
the attacks had a
common agenda: to
undermine leaders in
Cairo and Riyadh,
respectively. This
week's bombing was not
a stab at the Middle
East peace process,
nor was it aimed
primarily at the
United States. There
are scores of other
installations in the
kingdom and elsewhere
that would have been
better proxies for
Washington and led to
greater American
casualties.
This
was an attack aimed at
U.S. support for Saudi
Arabia, at the Saudi
government itself and
particularly at Crown
Prince Abdullah.
Vinnell Corp. was
targeted not because
it was American but
because of its
long-standing contract
to train the Saudi
National Guard, headed
by Abdullah. And this
is not the first
attack on Vinnell and
the Saudi National
Guard.
In
November 1995, a bomb
blast at a Saudi
National Guard
training base left
seven people dead,
including several
Americans.
One
final similarity: in
Egypt, the excess and
savagery deprived the
terrorists of popular
support and places to
hide. As millions of
tourists traveled
elsewhere, the
precipitous decline in
foreign revenues
caused widespread
economic hardship.
The
Luxor violence rallied
Egyptians behind their
government and marked
the beginning of the
end for Gamaa Al
Islamiya. The Egyptian
government cracked
down unequivocally;
most of the group's
leaders were jailed or
fled to Afghanistan,
and they were publicly
reviled.
A
similar popular
revulsion is beginning
to take hold in Saudi
Arabia. After all, a
substantial number of
this week's victims -
not counting the
bombers - were Saudis.
Already our
conversations with
people in the region
indicate that the
devastation caused by
these terrorists has
fomented a backlash
against religious
extremists. Ordinary
Saudis are saying
khalas! -
"enough!" -
as the death toll
mounts.
As
in Egypt in 1997, the
killings will fuel a
backlash against
extremists.
The
brutality of the crime
will not soon be
forgotten. Gunmen
stepped out of their
vehicles, quickly
approached the site,
shot the security
guards patrolling the
area and then
indiscriminately
murdered anyone in
their path. Foreigners
began evacuating the
country immediately.
The government, having
battled the same
extremists for more
than a decade, engaged
forcefully in a
wide-scale crackdown
on radical Islamic
groups.
The
country was Egypt. The
city was Luxor. The
date was Nov. 17,
1997.
This
particular act of
terrorism claimed the
lives of 58 tourists.
Gamaa al Islamiya,
headed by an Egyptian,
Ayman Zawahiri, who
would become Osama bin
Laden's top deputy,
claimed responsibility
for the largest
massacre of foreigners
in recent Egyptian
history.
Despite
the difference in time
and place, there are a
number of factors
linking Luxor and
Monday's suicide
attacks in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia. First,
compelling evidence
indicates that both
incidents bear the
Zawahiri signature,
one that has come to
identify Al Qaeda
attacks. Although
intelligence officials
in the U.S. are just
now being dispatched
to the kingdom to
investigate, Saudi
officials have already
announced what we
believe to be true: Al
Qaeda masterminded the
well-coordinated and
near-simultaneous
strikes on civilian
targets - its
terrorist trademark.
Second,
the attacks had a
common agenda: to
undermine leaders in
Cairo and Riyadh,
respectively. This
week's bombing was not
a stab at the Middle
East peace process,
nor was it aimed
primarily at the
United States. There
are scores of other
installations in the
kingdom and elsewhere
that would have been
better proxies for
Washington and led to
greater American
casualties.
This
was an attack aimed at
U.S. support for Saudi
Arabia, at the Saudi
government itself and
particularly at Crown
Prince Abdullah.
Vinnell Corp. was
targeted not because
it was American but
because of its
long-standing contract
to train the Saudi
National Guard, headed
by Abdullah. And this
is not the first
attack on Vinnell and
the Saudi National
Guard.
In
November 1995, a bomb
blast at a Saudi
National Guard
training base left
seven people dead,
including several
Americans.
One
final similarity: in
Egypt, the excess and
savagery deprived the
terrorists of popular
support and places to
hide. As millions of
tourists traveled
elsewhere, the
precipitous decline in
foreign revenues
caused widespread
economic hardship.
The
Luxor violence rallied
Egyptians behind their
government and marked
the beginning of the
end for Gamaa Al
Islamiya. The Egyptian
government cracked
down unequivocally;
most of the group's
leaders were jailed or
fled to Afghanistan,
and they were publicly
reviled.
A
similar popular
revulsion is beginning
to take hold in Saudi
Arabia. After all, a
substantial number of
this week's victims -
not counting the
bombers - were Saudis.
Already our
conversations with
people in the region
indicate that the
devastation caused by
these terrorists has
fomented a backlash
against religious
extremists. Ordinary
Saudis are saying
khalas! -
"enough!" -
as the death toll
mounts.
Uniting
with our allies to
fight our common enemy
- the terrorists - is
the right thing to do.
It should have been a
lesson learned after
9/11. Regrettably, it
was not. Instead,
self-described
"experts" on
Saudi Arabia, many of
whom have never spent
more than a few days
in the kingdom,
engaged in an orgy of
stereotypes and
half-truths. Too
often, their voices
dominate the airwaves
with pithy but grossly
distorted sound bites.
Their verbal lynching
of Islam, Arabs and
Saudis undermines
every one of us who
seeks to isolate and
destroy terrorists.
After
all the inroads this
administration has
made against the
forces of
international
terrorism, we cannot
gratify Bin Laden by
letting him believe
that terrorism will
accomplish his aims.
Saudi-bashing gives
aid and comfort to Bin
Laden and his
followers while
undercutting Bush.
That is not the way to
fight the war on
terrorism. ABOUT
THE AUTHORS
Ambassador
Wyche
Fowler, Jr.,
Chairman,
Middle East
Institute
Ambassador
Fowler, a
former U.S.
Senator (D-Ga.),
was
ambassador
to Saudi
Arabia from
1996 to
2001.
He
previously
served in
the U.S.
Senate,
1986-1993,
as a member
of the
Senate
Appropriations,
Budget,
Energy and
Agriculture
Committees.
Fowler was
elected to
the U.S.
House of
Representatives
in 1977;
member of
the Ways and
Means and
Foreign
Affairs
Committees,
the
Committee of
Intelligence,
and the
Congressional
Arts Caucus.
He practiced
law in
Atlanta for
eight years
prior to
election.
Fowler is an
expert on
Saudi Arabia
and Middle
East
affairs.
Ambassador
Edward S.
Walker
President,
Middle East
Institute
Ambassador
Edward S.
Walker was
the
Assistant
Secretary of
State for
Near Eastern
Affairs
from
1999-2001.
He
previously
served as
Ambassador
to Israel,
the Arab
Republic of
Egypt, and
the United
Arab
Emirates,
and Deputy
Permanent
Representative
to the
United
Nations.
Walker also
served as
the Deputy
Chief of
Mission in
Saudi Arabia
and in
political
and economic
and training
functions in
Lebanon,
Syria, and
Tunisia.
He developed
the Economic
Reform
program for
Egypt with
the Vice
President's
office while
serving as
US
Ambassador
to
Egypt.
He also
managed the
build-up of
US forces in
the United
Arab
Emirates and
directed
coordination
with the UAE
armed forces
during the
Gulf
war.
Walker
negotiated
the Western
Sahara issue
with the
Moroccan
King and
Algerian
President in
coordination
with former
Secretary of
State James
Baker.
Walker's
background
includes
extensive
travel,
study and
working
experience
since 1969
in Middle
East and
North
African
political,
military,
energy,
economic
reform and
trade
issues.
About
the Middle
East
Institute
The
Middle East
Institute
was founded
in 1946 on
the premise
that the
Middle East
would become
a key region
for the
United
States, one
that
required an
understanding
that went
beneath the
surface of
events. This
insight was
prophetic;
we have seen
the Middle
East emerge
as an area
vital to US
interests in
the world,
to the
world's
economy, and
to world
peace...
...the
Middle East
Institute
brings
special
strengths to
the mission
of
increasing
American
understanding
of this
complex and
fascinating
area.
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