Riyadh blast is an intolerable act [Archives:2003/685/Viewpoint]

There is no doubt that the terrorist suicidal attack that took place in Riyadh last week, is outrageous and unjustifiable. It was an act of violence that killed innocent civilians, mostly Saudis and Arabs.
What we can conclude from the situation in Saudi Arabia is that terrorists are still active, and are hitting hard, and are also expected to continue their attempts to damage the peace and stability our neighbor had enjoyed for so long.
Efforts seem to be focused on bringing internal conflict and turmoil within the borders of the kingdom. This is truly a dangerous development that should be tackled with all possible means.
Chasing and cracking down on terrorists is one step, but other more fundamental steps need to be taken. For example, there should be a thorough understanding and analysis about from where those fundamentalists get their ideas, and what made them attempt to kill their own brothers in Islam.
A link should be established between the physical nature of those attacks and the minds that are behind them. Let us not use the post-911 so called ‘war against terror’ as our example. We can see it has achieved very little on the ground because it mainly focuses on the confrontational aspect of the problem and tries to tackle it using force, violence, and oppression. More Guantanamo Bay camps will definitely not help in achieving a more stable country. On the contrary, such measures build up into a monster of hatred and bias.
Every nation makes mistakes, and I believe Saudi Arabia does too. The danger of extremism and fundamentalism has been there for some time, but it has not explored or dealt with until it has become too late. Those attacks have taken place only after decades of accumulated radical ideas and practices done by people who found the right environment, and who were able to brainwash many with their ill concepts.
Let us take this occasion in joining hands with our Saudi brothers to fight this enemy, which has grown partially due to mistakes of the past and because of overlooking and neglect.
The issue is still resolvable and we need not lose hope. But again, I assert that the solution should be on multiple dimensions. It should deal with a physical threat in terms of possible violence, more attacks, and security gaps, and with a mental threat that can only be dealt with by going deep into the minds of those people and knowing how they think, why they think this way, and what makes them die for their cause.
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