Terror in Jeddah

Economist.com | Saudi Arabia: "Since May 2003, when a series of bombings in Riyadh made plain the seriousness of the jihadist threat, the Saudi state has fought back. The past six months have been particularly hard on the militants, who had failed to score any “raids”, as they call them, since they killed 22 people in a rampage on May 29th. Of the 26 most-wanted men named last year, only seven remain at large. Dozens of others have also been taken out of action.

Nor was the Jeddah attack, for all its boldness, very impressive. Four of the five assailants died, and none penetrated the hardened chancellery within the consular compound. Few Saudis believe such violence will achieve its proclaimed goal of ridding Arabia of “polytheists”.

Dogged police work has whittled down the jihadists' potency, while stricter controls on Islamic charities have reduced the scope of terrorist funding. At the same time, some of the more fanatical interpretations of Muslim scripture have been expunged from Saudi schoolbooks. Perhaps more significantly, the Saudi state has enlisted some persuasive voices to denounce the terrorists. Several once-popular militant clerics have publicly recanted. Earlier this week, Saudi television aired emotional interviews with the parents of several jihadists, who said their sons had been the victims of a deviant death cult.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government has been buoyed by the price of oil, which remains (for it) deliciously high. Export revenues are set to reach $110 billion this year, up from $61 billion in 2002. The extra cash helps keep the police happy: recent bonuses equalled two months' salary. It also makes ordinary Saudis more confident. Saudi share prices have been at a record high. Not long ago, red ink in the state budget, rising unemployment and declining social services were prompting talk of an imminent crisis. No more.

Yet though pocketbooks are plump, unease lingers. Many Saudi youths are bored, alienated and angry with America; this combination continues to provide a ready pool of recruits for jihadism.

The ruling al-Saud family may have hounded violent radicals mercilessly, but it still coddles the conservatives who run the country's schools, courts and censorship offices. While these “official” clerics blast both extremism and America's perceived war against Islam, they also proclaim that obedience to the ailing king is a religious duty. In other words, they issue a contradictory message that alienates would-be modernisers, religious and secular alike. "