Bander ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad

I had great hopes for our educated people and thought that after the recent devastating terrorist attacks there would be a real cultural awakening. But some of them have unfortunately gone back to repeating the same old saw — that all our problems originate abroad. Typical is an article sent to me in an e-mail message. I don’t know whether it was published or not, but the name of the author was given as Dr. Ali ibn Shuwail Alkarni, chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Society for Information and Communications, and assistant professor of information at King Saud University in Riyadh. Perhaps the article, which included his e-mail address — alkarni@ksu.edu.sa — appeared without his knowledge. If so, I apologize in advance. Alkarni begins his article with the following sentence: “I know that this article of mine will be a strange one and there will be things which many people will be surprised at.” He asked a direct question: “Did the United States try to transport terrorism to the Middle East?” Is that the strangeness he was referring to? I have heard the same question thousands of times before.

Alkarni summarized his article in ten points which, he says, confirm America’s role in the Riyadh bombings. One point in particular struck me. “The intent of the United States is to export terrorism outside its borders, so it will be concerned with managing terrorism abroad rather than inside the country.” What terrorism is he talking about? Is it the Sept. 11 incidents that claimed the lives of 3,000 people? Who were the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks — America or Al-Qaeda?

In the article, Alkarni writes at length about America’s terrorist acts. “The United States tries to create terrorist spots in other regions so that terrorists and suicide bombers find opportunities there and divert their terrorist acts away from the US.” America was protecting itself from attacks by terrorists at home: Was that wrong? They can hardly be held responsible if these terrorists then attack elsewhere. The real terrorists, surely, are Khaled Al-Johani, Ali Abdul Rahman Al-Ghamdi, Abdul Hadi Al-Shahri, and Muhammad ibn Saleh Al-Shahri.

Alkarni continues his argument by saying the United States created divisions between the religious establishment and the general public. Let me ask for clarification: Was the religious establishment responsible for what happened in Riyadh? Alkarni should make that point clear. I am fed up with this apportioning of blame and rebuking of others, especially when it comes from people who are neither willing to correct their own ways nor to articulate things frankly. What pains me a great deal is that a group of people from our society are involved in fostering terrorists and spreading of corruption; and that when they do, we describe them as religious extremists although Islam has nothing to do with them. And worst of all, we see some of our thinkers and professors act like ostriches with their heads in the sand. May God protect us from them.

Arab News Opinion 10 June 2003