THEY DON'T CALL THEM SUICIDE BOMBERS FOR NOTHING:

Al-Qaeda faces Arab backlash: Mideast nations infuriated by slaughter of Muslim women, children during Ramadan (Scott Stinson and Allan Woods, November 10, 2003, National Post)

A deadly weekend bomb attack on a predominantly Arab housing compound in Riyadh has sparked outrage among Muslim leaders. Intelligence officials say the backlash could be a turning point in the U.S.-led war on terror. [...]

Residents of the compound in the Saudi capital practise a liberal form of Islam, making them targets of terrorists who consider that a betrayal of the faith.

Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the 22-member Arab League, said he "condemns in the strongest terms the criminal and terrorist actions which have no purpose except threatening stability, planning evil and terrorizing and killing civilians."

He also decried the targeting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, a sentiment shared in condemnations from leaders of Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iran.

"Criminal acts like these ... cannot be the work of real Muslims, because the Islamic religion forbids the killing of peaceful people," Rafik al-Hariri, the Lebanese Prime Minister, said in a statement. "They are the work of those who are the enemies of religion and humanity alike." [...]

By slaughtering women and children, the officials said, the terrorists broke the code that binds tribal Muslims, handing police a unique opportunity to infiltrate the dozens of terrorist cells operating in Saudi Arabia, where al-Qaeda gains much of its financial and ideological support.

The security angles of this turn of events are obvious, but there's a more subtle opportunity presented to. There's been much debate--little of it edifying--about whether Islam is truly a "religion of peace" or not and how much it resembles its fellow monotheisms. There's also some question about the extent to which al Qaeda can even be said to be Muslim in nature. None of these issues are important if we just take advantage of the fact that they exist, and if Islam does too, and use the notion of an inherently violent strain in or of Islam as a point of departure against which the rest of Islam can react. The much needed Reformation of Islam can more easily take place in the context of a cleaning up of its own house than a response to Western pressures--which is not to say that George W. Bush should relax the pressure we've been applying. We must regret the loss of life involved, but not be bashful about recognizing that every bomb that al Qaeda sets off gets us closer to our goal than it does them to theirs.

MORE:
Why Al-Qaida is attacking the Saudi Kingdom (Walid Phares, Ph D, November 10, 2003, Townhall)

Since I have been asked to analyze them since the Fall of 2001, I have always argued that Bin Laden's tapes have to be taken seriously. When he called his Mujahedeen to attack infidels around the Middle East last October on an audiotape released on al-Jazeera, he was, in fact, issuing orders. (See http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10411 )

And those orders are now in effect.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 10, 2003 11:01 AM