Algerians gravitate towards individual terrorism and why are they, as indi-
viduals, prepared to sacrifice their own lives in the process? The hijackers
responsible for the 11 September outrage were not illiterate, bearded fanat-
ics from the mountain villages of Afghanistan. They were all highly skilled.
middle-class professionals. Thirteen of the nineteen men involved were cit
izens of Saudi Arabia. Their names are recognisable. The three Alghamdis
are clearly from the Hijaz province of the kingdom, the site of the holy cities
of Mecca and Medina. Mohamed Atta, born in Egypt, travelled on a Saudi
passport. Regardless of whether he gave the actual order or not, what is
indisputable is that the bulk of Osama bin Laden's real cadres (as opposed to
foot-soldiers) are located in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, the two principal allies
of the United States in the region barring Israel. Support for bin Laden is
strong in Saudi Arabia. That is why the Saudi regime, despite its total
dependence on the US, is now suggesting politely that American troops be
removed from their country. It is here that the effects of the US counter-
offensive are being felt most acutely. The royal family is extremely nervous.
The Crown Prince, Abdallah bin Abdul Aziz, is openly discussing internal
reforms and a war against corruption within the family and the country.
In normal times the Saudi kingdom is barely covered by the Western
media or seriously discussed in the academy. Saudi petrodollars have funded
many departments of Arabic or Arab studies and Saudi 'generosity' to
Western journalists, politicians and diplomats is well-known. It usually
requires the imprisonment of an American or British citizen or for a British
nurse to be thrown out of a window for attention to focus on the regime in
Riyadh, but this is regarded by all sides as a temporary blip and normal busi-
ness is resumed fairly rapidly. Even less is known about the state religion,
which is not an everyday version of Sunni or Shia Islam but, as I have
argued, a peculiarly virulent, ultra-puritanical strain. This is the religion of
the Saudi royals, the state bureaucracy, the army and air force and, of course,
Osama bin Laden, the best-known Saudi citizen in the world, whose cur-
rent whereabouts are unknown.
A rough equivalent of this in Britain would be if the Church of England
was replaced by the United Reformed Church of Dr Ian Paisley, the royal
family became ardent Paisleyites and the state bureaucracy and armed ser-
vices were barred to non-Paisleyites. In the United States it would mean the
hiring of Jerry Falwell to become the official chaplain at the White House. Please can you summarize the important points of this paragraph?