Today, Crown Prince Abdullah, speaking on behalf of King Fahd, issued an offer of temporary amnesty to anyone who would turn himself in and confess to acts of terror. This is obviously a hollow type of offer to extend to one who would give his life for his cause. Especially, since it comes with the caveat that the offer is only extended under royal law and not under sharia law. The only solid thing that such an offer comes with is a time-stamped ultimatum with committment to action. The unofficial action may very well involve British or American secret forces (listen to "To the Point" 6/24). At first, I suspect that foreign troops hunting down civilians in Saudi Arabia with the approval of the King may not be well received by violent anti-american Saudis. I'm afraid though that unfortunately it may be akwardly true that eventually American foreign policy and public sentiment may jibe all to well with the anti-Saudi-royal-family leanings of Al Qaeda.
On the left side of the American political stage are those who are making evident that the Saudi regime is a real national security threat, by making the point that they are the ones who funded 9/11.
At the same time, the extreme right is saying that we need to expand democracy in the middle east. It may be only a matter of time until they are forced to name an actual enemy in the "war on terror". When that eventuality occurs, there are already those who are pushing for the acceptance that the war is against the religious doctrine of Wahabiism. It is perhaps a serendipitous blessing that the United States can no longer stand on the might pulpit of human rights as effectively anymore, since a description of the documented human rights abuses of the Saudi government reads much like the year 2004 in American history now does.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/nea/817.htm
Security forces continued to abuse detainees and prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, and facilitate incommunicado detention; in addition there were allegations that security forces committed torture. Prolonged detention without charge is a problem. Security forces committed such abuses, in contradiction to the law, but with the acquiescence of the Government. Mutawwa'in (religious police, who constitute the Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice) continued to intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners. The Government infringes on citizens' privacy rights. The Government prohibits or restricts freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, and movement.
In order to avert a war on Saudi soil, we must assess the risk involved if the number of violent actions against expatriates and foreign workers in Saudi Arabia rises. The president of the United States needs to openly address the greivances that may exist in teachings of the schools of the madrasas -- if only to open a dialogue and to show well meaning and mutual respect, if not to address some greivances by reparation that may be far less expensive than un-bounded and perpetual war against the concept of violence itself. I agree with the article by William Greider, that the "cold war" has been replaced as a device of nationalistic fervor by the "war on terror". Until we take a breath and think about the consequences of our actions; and until we realize that maybe it was not incorrect to deal with act of terror with police action and covert intelligence rather than with invasions of countries' sovereignties; we are setting ourselves up for an ever escalating global conflict.