LIKE TERRORISTS DEAD? THANK AN SUV DRIVER:

Surge in Saudi oil income seen aiding fight on terror (Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, September 7, 2005, THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

A midyear financial report by the Samba Financial Group, one of the largest and most profitable private banks in the kingdom, said oil revenue this year is expected to reach $157 billion, a 48 percent increase over 2004's oil revenue of $106 billion.

The Saudi stock market, meanwhile, has seen its capitalization grow from $82.1 billion at the end of June 2002 to $517.6 billion at the end of June 2005, or an increase of $435 billion in just three years.

"The increased wealth is beginning to trickle down to ordinary Saudis," said Ihsan Buhuleiga, a leading economist and member of the Shura Council, in an interview with The Washington Times. [...]

Job creation is something the Saudi government desperately wants to achieve in order to stop young, unemployed Saudi men from being lured into joining terrorist groups.

While some foreign critics of the Saudi government worry that some of the increased oil revenues will find their way into the pockets of the terrorists, Anthony Cordesman, a specialist in Saudi affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, thinks the new revenues will allow the Saudi government to both battle the insurgents and develop the country.

The spurt in oil revenue may also help the ruling al-Saud royal family to secure its popularity.

On Aug. 22, the government announced a 15 percent increase in the wages of all government employees, a move ordered by newly enthroned Saudi King Abdullah to garner popular support and to inject money into the local economy.

Even before the salary raise, Saudis had seen their per-capita gross domestic product grow from $7,437 in 1998 to $11,052 in 2004. Samba estimates per capita GDP in 2005 to reach $13,603.

Yet again we see how al Qaeda's tactics defeat its strategic goals.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 7, 2005 8:19 AM