From CDHR
January 11, 2008
Despite It’s Obsession with Security
By Ali Alyami
Despite the Saudi government’s extraordinary expenditure on its layers of extravagantly armed domestic security personnel and unprecedented fortification of its borders, the instability of Saudi Arabia and its absolute royal family are probably at their worst ever. Since the bombing of foreign compounds in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and other parts of the country in 2003 and subsequent years, 45 violent attempts against the royal family, its infrastructures and its extremist religious establishment have been foiled by the Saudi security apparatus with the help of foreign governments each year. One of the most destabilizing attempts was foiled in Nov. 2007. 208 men were about to carry out a devastating operation before they were discovered and rounded up from all regions in the country. According to the Saudi Interior Ministry, they received flying training in and outside of the country, smuggled rockets and other sophisticated equipment from abroad and planned to assassinate senior princes and religious personalities as well as inflict massive damage to oil facilities. Had a plot of this magnitude succeeded, even partially, it would have caused a dangerous political vacuum and possible disintegration of the country since there is no national identity other than forced unity under the banner of the royal family. The outcome would have left the US with no choice but to intervene militarily to protect the oil facilities and flow of oil without which the global economy would collapse. A similar, albeit less ambitious, attempt was foiled on Dec. 14, 2007 when 28 men were discovered before they executed a plot to attack targets in Muslim holy sites during the holist days in the Muslim calendar, the Hajj, pilgrimage.
In spite of these serious attempts, the Saudi government keeps telling its people and the world that the country is stable and that it is only a matter of time before the anti-royal family forces in the country are eliminated. Obviously the US and others don’t agree, and this is why US ships are patrolling the Arab side of the Persian Gulf to protect the oil facilities and the flow of oil. It is assumed that this topic will occupy a great portion of President Bush’s visit to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.