A sense of relief can be felt in the Kingdom after security officers shot dead four deadly mass murderers, among them the Al-Qaeda leader in the Kingdom, Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, who was the mastermind behind the slayings of Westerners in the capital over the past three weeks.
People are now more relaxed. Even permanent security checkpoints, such as the ones near the Ministry of the Interior that had been there for several months, have now been lifted.
It’s unfortunate, however, that there are those in the West who think that the large number of security officers who have been deployed in the streets of Riyadh and in other cities, the 15,000 police officers, secret police, intelligence officers and special forces units searching houses and combing areas to smoke out terrorists, were all due to pressure from the United States government.
The massive blow to Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and the achievements by our security officers were not the fruits of a three-day mission — the 72 hours deadline given by the terrorists who kidnapped Johnson. It was the fruit of several months of intensified investigation from Saudi intelligence working along with Special Forces and local police officers. To draw such a conclusion from the fact that the killing of the top Al-Qaeda man happened shortly after the kidnapping of Johnson would be irrational and unfair.
A reporter for Al-Hayat newspaper mentioned in one of his articles how a large crowd in Al-Malaz district in Riyadh were cheering security forces after the gunbattle last Friday night. A sense of joy and relief filled the air.
Many people in the media who are focusing on Saudi Arabia, particularly after several Westerners were shot and killed in the capital, fail to realize two important things: That Saudi Arabia does not and will not bow to any foreign pressure, and that the majority of victims in the terrorist incidents that have occurred in our country since May 12, 2003, were Saudis, not Westerners. Many of our nationals whose lives perished were innocent women and children, as well as police officers.
But skepticism of our security officers at a critical time such as this will not do anyone good. We should all join in saluting them for doing a great job and risking their lives when they confront terrorists.
The other matter that the Western media fail to understand is that despite all the killings of Westerners in the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia is still one of the safest places in the world. The chances of someone being mugged or killed in an alley in New York, Chicago or in Washington DC are far greater than anywhere in Saudi Arabia. And though the number of killings here in the past year due to terrorist incidents has been less than 100, that number is the average number of people killed in those major cities in a month, or less.
There is no justification whatsoever for the deaths that have occurred here, be it Westerners or others. As Saudis, we denounce these acts of violence that are alien both our culture and religion.
Our fight against terror in Saudi Arabia has not ended with Al-Muqrin’s killing. There are still at least 16 deadly terrorists on the most wanted list at large. What our security officers and law-enforcement men need now is our cooperation, support, and above all, appreciation. Everyone — the teacher, the mother, the father, the imam, the sheikh, the journalist, and the civil servant — should know that they have a patriotic duty in the fight against terror.
Let us all stand united in this battle. And let every single one of us be a Saudi soldier in his own distinctive way.
May God bless our security officers and keep them safe.
