THE Dhahran bombing has demonstrated once again that Saudi Arabia is not immune to the forces tearing the region apart. In Saudi Arabia as in Egypt, Bahrain and Algeria, these seem to be home grown rather than imported.
The four men convicted of the November bombing of the US training mission at NationalGuard headquarters in Riyadh were all Saudis. Along with several thousand Saudis, three of the bombers joined the guerrilla forces fighting the US backed, Saudi funded war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
The "Afghans" returned home in time to condemn the deployment on "holy Saudi soil" of the troops of the US led coalition which freed Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991, as well as the loose living and moral corruption of the House of Saud.
It has been revealed that since the November attack the Saudi, authorities have assembled a data base on some 400 in the kingdom who now could be rounded up for interrogation.
The shock delivered to the Saudi ruling family by Tuesday's bombing in Dhahran could have a decisive impact on the protracted struggle for the succession.
To promote a climate of stability within the kingdom, shaken by two major bomb blasts within seven months, the full brothers of the ailing King Fahd could be persuaded to finally accept the succession to the throne of their half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah.
Although he assumed the day to day running of the kingdom after the king's stroke in November, and was formally entrusted with power in January, the Defence Minister, Prince Sultan, and the Interior Minister, Prince Naif, who belong to the "Sudairi faction", prevailed upon the king to resume his rule seven weeks later in order to prevent Prince Abdullah's automatic assumption of power.
This bombing has, however, weakened the "Sudairis" because Prince Naif shares, with the security services, responsibility for the failure to apprehend potential bombers and root out Islamist opponents of the regime and its alliance with the US.
The rest of the family could be expected to endorse Prince Abdullah because of his widespread popularity among ordinary Saudis. He is not tainted with the corruption associated with the ruling family, one of the main grievances of the Islamist opposition.
Prince Abdullah, as head of the National Guard, also has the support of the most efficient of the Saudi armed forces and the loyalty of the tribes in the area around Riyadh, from which his bedouin troops are drawn. This conservative tribal area has been a fertile recruiting ground for the Islamist opposition, so the endorsement of Prince Abdullah could counter this trend.
The latest incident compelled the US to admit it has 15,000 to 20,000 troops in Arabia instead of the 5,000 previously claimed. This could increase opposition to the American presence and the highly sensitive alliance of the House of Saudi with the US.
