Over at Michele’s a discussion is taking place about the fact that the Saudi bombings are not getting sufficient media play, Glenn thinks that the bombings deserve little airtime as these attacks are “desperate” and look like “small potatoes” in the wake of what happened in Iraq. Well, I do not entirely agree with that and believe that the attacks deserve big time media attention. The reason, as I have said earlier today, is that the bombings are evidence of a revised strategy by al-Qaeda. The new approach was predicted by a number of experts shortly after the war in Afghanistan and the argument was that many Saudi fighters would flee Afghanistan and Pakistan and return to their native grounds to continue the battle there in order to focus on their key strategic objective: establishing a caliphate in the holy land of Mecca and Medina itself.

So what we are seeing is a change of venue in the war against terrorism. In addition to the savage murder of innocents, that is the key reason for this situation deserving close media attention. I do not think these attacks are desperate, I think they are clear signs that al-Qaeda is alive and well and that they have now taken their battle to Saudi Arabia itself. Any success by them in undermining the rulers in Riyadh would set the stage for serious long-term upheaval in the Arab and Muslim world. As I have argued on these pages, the appointment of Paul Bremer as the new administrator for Iraq for a period that is getting longer and longer by the day, should not be seen in isolation. His background as one of the top counter terrorism experts in the US may very well be taken as the establishment of on the ground anti-terror expertise in the region and his role should extend to Iran, Syria and as of yesterday, definitely, Saudi Arabia.