Ghassan Tueni, the publisher of the An-Nahar newspaper out of Beirut wrote, on November 13, an article that essentially implied that the root cause of terrorism aimed at Arab regimes is... counterterrorism. That, and the “the Israeli-Palestinian crisis,” of course.
The spark for Tueni’s insight was the terrorist bombing that struck a mostly Arab compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Arabs could explain the attack by blaming America, he wrote, had they not exhausted that particular “conspiracy theory”. Even so, Tueni did note a cause for Arab suspicion, in that work at the US Embassy and consulates in the kingdom had all been suspended the day before the attack.
However, as noted, Tueni does not endorse such a theory, rather, he sees the campaign of bombings as a campaign launched by “terrorism” against the Saudi regime. In response, under the leadership of Crown Prince Abdullah, the Saudis have embarked on their own “war against terrorism,” Tueni stated.
It was precisely this counterterrorism war, the An-Nahar article asserted, which has provoked the terrorists and their supporters. Measures such as cutting off the funding to certain terror-affiliated groups outraged many, Tueni reported, as did the increasing security operations, which threw the kingdom into a vicious circle of violence and counter-violence “with no sign of an end anytime soon.”
Not only that, the Lebanese newspaper publisher explained, the terrorist bombings, killing dozens, are manifestations of “discontent” at the kingdom’s failure to actively promote Crown Prince Abdullah’s peace plan for the “Israeli-Palestinian crisis”.
The spark for Tueni’s insight was the terrorist bombing that struck a mostly Arab compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Arabs could explain the attack by blaming America, he wrote, had they not exhausted that particular “conspiracy theory”. Even so, Tueni did note a cause for Arab suspicion, in that work at the US Embassy and consulates in the kingdom had all been suspended the day before the attack.
However, as noted, Tueni does not endorse such a theory, rather, he sees the campaign of bombings as a campaign launched by “terrorism” against the Saudi regime. In response, under the leadership of Crown Prince Abdullah, the Saudis have embarked on their own “war against terrorism,” Tueni stated.
It was precisely this counterterrorism war, the An-Nahar article asserted, which has provoked the terrorists and their supporters. Measures such as cutting off the funding to certain terror-affiliated groups outraged many, Tueni reported, as did the increasing security operations, which threw the kingdom into a vicious circle of violence and counter-violence “with no sign of an end anytime soon.”
Not only that, the Lebanese newspaper publisher explained, the terrorist bombings, killing dozens, are manifestations of “discontent” at the kingdom’s failure to actively promote Crown Prince Abdullah’s peace plan for the “Israeli-Palestinian crisis”.