Homeland Security

DATE=5/15/03

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=AL-QAIDA STRIKES BACK

NUMBER=6-12931

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: This week's deadly bombings in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh did more than kill at least two dozen people and injure hundreds more. They also got the attention of the globe's press, which believes al-Qaida or other terrorists responsible, represent a deadly and continuing threat. And not only to United States citizens and interests. We get a sampling of editorial comment on this latest threat to global security now from V-O-A's _____________ in this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The death toll in the Saudi bombings, which took place at three residential compounds used by foreigners, including Americans, stands at 34, with about 200 injured. By late in the week, the Lebanese army was saying it has arrested some alleged terrorists who were planning to attack the U-S embassy in Beirut and kidnap some of Lebanon's cabinet.

This latest news merely reemphasizes a point made in many foreign newspaper editorials that the terror threat exemplified by the Saudi bombing is not solely directed at Americans. We begin our sampling in a shaken Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi, pan-Arabic daily Al-Hayat, produced in London, England, notes:

VOICE: [The] blasts require a variety of solutions, uppermost being the review of religious institutions. Patterns of thinking were a decisive element contributing to an atmosphere that produces terrorists.

TEXT: In Al-Nadwa from the Islamic holy city of Mecca, there is this view:

VOICE: The upcoming phase is a phase of a decisive solution to this group of outlaws [dedicated to] their total elimination... They will find no safe haven anymore.

TEXT: And in Abha, al-Watan was clearly impressed by the nationally televised response of the nation's acting leader Crown Prince Abdullah.

VOICE: [His] speech was clear, sincere and direct. It did not include any cliches, rhyming political words, or the usual lingo. He called things by their names [describing] the terrorists as criminals and murderers devoid of all human morals and values.

TEXT: In Egypt, Cairo's Al Akhbar adds this:

VOICE: Expectations of those who said the war [with Iraq] would only increase the region's confusion and aggravation came true. Who knows, there could be more terrorists attacks in the region. We cannot predict how far things are going.

TEXT: While the English-language Al Ahram Weekly added this equally grim assessment:

VOICE: Washington should take stock of the blasts. It is the clearest evidence yet that the U-S-led invasion and occupation of Iraq has boosted support for militant Islamists and extremists in the Arab and Moslem worlds.

TEXT: In the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, a commentator in al-Ayyam suggested the answer to who is responsible for the bombings answered simply: U-S policy of unlimited support for the Jewish state.

Checking the Israeli press, a columnist in Tel Aviv's Ha'aretz suggests:

VOICE: The fact that the attacks took place shortly after Washington and Riyadh announced plans to reduce the U-S military presence in the kingdom strengthens the assessment that the real target might have been the Saudi regime.

TEXT: It is all about oil if you believe Yediot Aharonot, which theorizes:

VOICE: The fact that Iraqi oil production could reach 12-million barrels a day in one year's time allows the U-S to fall back on the friendly regime it is establishing in Baghdad and to start checking what's rotten in the kingdom [of Saudi Arabia].

TEXT: In Jordan, Amman's English-language Jordan Times feels that:

VOICE: The fatal attacks are a grim reminder of how the effort to stamp out terrorism worldwide requires cooperation among and condemnation by all countries.

TEXT: While in neighboring Kuwait, an Al-Watan columnist postulates:

VOICE: If the terrorists believe that raising slogans against the Americans will gain them sympathy they are hallucinating. The goals of terrorism in Saudi Arabia are to impose an extremist ideology and to force the Saudi leadership to abandon its reform policies.

TEXT: Moving on to the orient, Japan's huge, Tokyo-based Yomiuri suggests:

VOICE: Behind the bombings are growing popular frustrations that although Saudi Arabia is leader of the Islamic world, its leadership continues to be dependent on the "infidel" U-S. It appears that such inconsistencies have caused a "hotbed of terrorism." [One can no longer dismiss the] possibility that acts of terrorism are [solely] directed at the U-S but [also] at the Saudi royal family.

TEXT: Moving to Europe, The London Times is not hopeful of much investigative help from Saudi intelligence.

VOICE: The past record does not give much cause for optimism. The Saudis have still failed to clear up the bombing of the al Khobar barracks, which killed 19 Americans in 1996. Al-Qaida's aim is to capitalize on the anti-American mood sweeping the Arab world and the current sense of shame that Iraqi forces put up so poor a fight.

TEXT: And in Italy, Corriere della Sera in Milan suggests:

VOICE: The terrorist attacks remind the international community -- still torn apart by disagreements over Iraq -- that the priorities jointly identified after September 11th did not disappear with Saddam Hussein.

TEXT: And on that note from Italy's Corriere della Sera, we conclude this global editorial sampling on this week's deadly bombings in Saudi Arabia.

NEB/ANG/RH