(Washington Post) Editorial - While the Saudi royal family may have bought itself some respite with the killing or capture of key militants, hundreds of al-Qaeda adherents remain at large in bin Laden's homeland and will probably form new cells. Saudi authorities are moving slowly, if at all, to address the roots of the insurgency. The Saudi rulers have yet to acknowledge the ways in which Islamic radicals have been bred by the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi strain of Islam and the state-financed religious establishment. Rather than tackle the hidebound religious establishment or promote alternatives to the strict Wahhabi creed, the government has rounded up and jailed reformers who call for religious and political liberalization. The U.S. can no longer afford to support the Saudi status quo.
2004-07-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive