One year of terror sets new agenda in Saudi Arabia

Reads this AFP News headline.

Al-Qaeda was fine as long as they attacked others outside the Saudi kingdom but now the Saudis are trying to put the genie back in the bottle.

From barricaded public facilities and diplomatic quarters to the prince cuddling the daughter of a slain security officer, one year of terror has changed the face of Saudi Arabia.

The violence unleashed on the night of May 12, 2003, when suicide bombers devastated three residential compounds in the capital, has spawned a new lexicon, peddled by a state-guided press as the government mobilizes the nation against the enemy from within.

That enemy is "the group that lost its way" -- the presumed sympathizers of the Al-Qaeda network of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden who have "distorted the tolerant message of Islam" to wreak havoc in the cradle of the religion.

Hang on a minute here. I thought you guys said: (from an earlier post.)

Nevertheless, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who runs the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom in the name of his invalided brother King Fahd, blamed internal Saudi terrorism on "Zionists."

"Zionism is behind terrorist actions in the kingdom," Abdullah told a gathering of princes in Jiddah following the Saturday attacks. "I can say that I am 95 percent sure of that."

Seems Abdullah is not in the loop with the rest of his government.

[...]

What terror has also done is force the Islamists to break their silence and come out clearly against violence and proponents of a misplaced jihad, or holy war, Kassem said

Oh, really? I haven't seen or heard much of this and when you do hear something Abdullah balmes "Zionists".

Are there a few lights twinkling in the desert though? Maybe.

"Have we helped create these monsters?" asked Raid Qusti in the daily Arab News.

Uh, that would be a real big YES.

"Our education system, which does not stress tolerance of other faiths -- let alone tolerance of followers of other Islamic schools of thought -- is one thing that needs to be reevaluated from top to bottom," he wrote.

You got that right pal and do the same in your mosques.