Blasts prompt Saudis to reassess their society

WASHINGTON -- Saudi Arabia is beginning to take a more open look at its own society "at every level," including religion, to prevent the further recruitment of terrorists like the perpetrators of Monday's deadly car bomb attacks in the capital, Riyadh, a senior Saudi official said Friday.

With Saudis reeling from what he called the "massive jolt" of a suicide attack that killed 34 people, including eight Americans, the official, Adel al-Jubeir, said the kingdom needs to press on with reforms in its economy, education and job creation to "immunize" its young people from the hate-driven, anti-modernist message of al- Qaida, the network that U.S. and Saudi officials believe was behind the bombings.

The comments of al-Jubeir, an adviser to Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, marked a rare admission that problems within Saudi society contribute to terrorism.

In what some analysts have called a case of denial, Saudi officials have often been reluctant to acknowledge the extent of al- Qaida's penetration into Saudi society and instead have stressed the fact that its mastermind, Osama bin Laden, was stripped of Saudi citizenship and hates the Saudi leadership as much as he did the United States.

Al-Jubeir stuck to the view of his boss, the crown prince, that Monday's suicide bombers were "a small group of deviants" and insisted that the Saudi people as a whole don't give even tacit support to terrorism.

But he said, "We are now going to be more public in our pursuit of the terrorists," not just to prevent further attacks "but also in looking at how they are able to brainwash some of our young, how they're able to recruit them."

"We are looking at our society as a whole. We are looking at how we can create the conditions that will immunize our people and our society from such evildoers, whether it involves economic issues, job creation, education, whether it involves working with the religious establishment," al-Jubeir said. "We are looking at this, at our society at every level," he said.

Al-Jubeir, a polished spokesman who has spent much of his life in the United States, is sharply attuned to American public opinion. His comments appeared to be aimed at blunting anti-Saudi feeling in the United States and heading off possible U.S. demands for more radical changes in Saudi society than its conservative ruling family is ready to undertake.

But al-Jubeir left no doubt about the shock felt in the kingdom this week and vowed that the Saudi government would seek out and destroy terrorist cells and prevent a repeat of Monday's attacks, which killed Saudis and Americans as well as British, Lebanese, Filipino and Pakistani citizens.

"We have, since the tragic events of Monday, gone back, reassessed a lot of things in terms of Saudi Arabia," he said. "We've reassessed a lot of things in terms of our cooperation with our friends and allies around the world."

Al-Jubeir said both the United States and Saudi Arabia are "in the crosshairs" of al-Qaida. "We have never had as close, or as strong, a cooperative effort between our two countries as we have now. Have we failed? Yes. On Monday, we failed. We will learn from this mistake, we will ensure it never happens again."

He defended the failure of his government to beef up security at the walled communities in Riyadh where many foreigners live, despite a request by U.S. Ambassador Robert Jordan. He said the request had come only "a few days" before the attacks and indicated that the slow- moving government had not had time to figure out what to do. He said Saudi authorities expected terrorist threats against the kingdom to intensify after the Iraq war. They have already questioned "thousands of individuals" detained hundreds of suspects and referred about 100 to courts for trial. Security has been beefed up around major cities, and special forces units have been reassigned to fight terrorism, he said.

Al-Jubeir declined to say what access U.S. investigators would have to question suspects, a sore point in the probe into the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 U.S. servicemen. FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters Friday that the initial Saudi investigation of the bombings had been "thorough and expeditious," and said the FBI officials sent to the kingdom were there to help the Saudis and not to try to control the probe.

Al-Jubeir said "nothing is off the table" in the area of political reforms, but said they must be in line with Saudi "customs and traditions."

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