These days, Riyadh has become almost as dangerous as Baghdad. Recently, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed terrorist attacks along with the spectacular kidnapping of a US citizen. Al Qaeda has now lifted the veil on its real intentions, seizing power in Saudi Arabia, and acted upon its strategy. While the Kingdom is ostensibly fighting for its survival, which side is it really on?
 
After the horrific attacks of September 11, where fifteen Saudi terrorists took part in killing 3,000 of our citizens, the American public began to realize that Saudi Arabia was more a foe than a friend. It became clear that since the beginning of the 1980's Saudi Arabia has been funding Al Qaeda and Islamist worldwide terrorism in general through charities. Even the United Nations acknowledged this in their report on terrorism.

The most logical explanation for this financial support is that the Saudi princes wanted to keep their power intact. They decided to make a pact with the devil —— al Qaeda and its spiritual muse the Wahhabis, with their extremist version of Islam —— to be left in peace.

After September 11, a few other examples proved this complicity. Princess Haifa, the wife of Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the US, had wired money to one of the September 11 terrorists. Then, Gerald Posner's book Why America Slept, established links between the Saudi royal family and September 11. In fact, after American Special Forces arrested top al Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah in March 2002, they found out mind—boggling news.

Zubaydah, thinking at first he was in the hands of the Saudis, because his interrogators pretended so, was very relieved and told them to call Prince Ahmed bin Salman, one of King Fahd's nephews. He gave them the private home number and the cell phone of the prince, and told them that the prince would tell them what to do. The interrogators did not believe him, so then Zubaydah mentioned two other princes with whom he was in close contact. He even added that they were aware of the September 11 attacks way beforehand, and that they had supplied al Qaeda with money.

Three high level Saudi princes involved directly with Al Qaeda seem a little far—fetched. But after the US informed the Saudis about these revelations, within three months the three princes mysteriously died. They were between 25 and 41 years old and in perfect health, but nonetheless one died of a heart attack, one of a car accident and the last one of thirst while wandering in the desert.  Certainly it was very convenient for the Saudis, if it was a coincidence....

Until May 2003, according to many US officials, the Saudi authorities did not cooperate at all in the September 11 investigation and in the War on Terror. But then terrorism hit home, and the Saudis realized that al Qaeda was going after them in a very violent fashion. Since then, they have been more proactive in arresting terrorists, helping in the chase for terror—funding charities and arresting radical preachers. According to Antoine Sfeir, one of the leading experts in the Arab world on such matters, who just returned from the Kingdom, 1,743 preachers have been jailed since the beginning of the year. But all this sudden cooperation has to be taken with a grain of salt, because as Stephen Schwartz, author of The Two Faces of Islam, has been claiming, the Saudi authorities never disclose the names or show any proof of their opponents' existence, whether it is terrorists or preachers.

Nonetheless, the Sauds are in great danger, and know that they are fighting for their power in this war against al Qaeda. Rumors are floating around that in case of a defeat, the royal family has a contingency plan to move to the South of France.

You might think that in such an environment the Saudis would like to be on our good side. But it is not the case, as revealed by numerous statements from Crown Prince Abdallah and Interior Minister Prince Nayef. As a matter of fact, Abdullah recently declared that the terrorist attacks inside the Kingdom were perpetrated by 'Zionists' and that he was 95% sure of this fact.

Prince Nayef, who represents the hard line faction of the Wahhabis, was already famous for stating that the September 11 attacks were masterminded by Israel and the Jews. He has not changed his mind a bit, because while he stated to Arab News that al Qaeda was behind this month's attacks he added, 'Al Qaeda is backed by Israel and Zionism.' In today's lengthy interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, he went further by saying that the only problem he has with the West concerns Israel.

Saudi Arabia once again used its own "WMD" —— Weapon of Mass Distraction —— to focus the anger of its population on the 'source' of all their troubles: Israel. Is it because of Israel that the GDP per person in Saudi Arabia went from $20,000 in 1980 to about $6,000 today? Or rather because the royal family has plundered the country by spending on lavish palaces, jets, cars and all kind of luxuries. The utility of Israel as a scapegoat might make it easier to understand why, according to Dore Gold, Saudi Arabia finances 60% of the budget of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. The nature of the Saudi distraction strategy shows how far apart the USA and Saudi Arabia truly are in their objectives in this WW IV.

After attacking Israel, Prince Nayef told French newspaper Le Figaro that the US was not cooperating in terms of intelligence. He went as far as saying 'Al Zarqawi, one of al Qaeda's top leaders, is in Iraq. The US can arrest him. Why don't they do it?' Is that the kind of language you expect from an ally?

This interview reveals the total denial of guilt from the Saudis. Nayef also says in it, 'Saudi Arabia refuses all kinds of extremism. It is true that we support people who appear as good Muslims. But they are not extremists.....Saudis who help terrorists do not exist.'

It looks like the Saudi royal family does not know what to do to preserve its power. Al Qaeda, the former ally, has turned into a deadly foe. But still siding with the USA is totally out of the question, because of the whole propaganda effort spread over the past twenty—five years. For Saudis, the US and Israel are the real enemies. But when Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corporation analyst, declared in July of 2002 that Saudi Arabia should be considered as a foe, he was fired. 

Saudi Arabia is one of the central countries in our war on terror because of its financing of terrorist organizations, and the strategic importance of its oil reserves. It is a very complex situation to assess because the Bush administration is clearly afraid that by destabilizing the House of Saud, they are making the bed for Osama Bin Laden and his goons.

The status quo is not leading anywhere and as Murawiec suggested in his book, The War After, it may be time to 'de—Saudize' Arabia. By being tough on the Kingdom and imposing sanctions, ranging from fragmenting the country to seizing assets abroad, the US might finally get full cooperation and win a major battle in WW IV.