Consulate attack turning some Saudis against militants

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- The five men who attacked the U.S. consulate are being vilified by some Saudis as criminals, not lauded as heroes, even though they targeted the offices of a country that remains unpopular among many Arabs.

While support for al-Qaida remains strong in parts of Saudi Arabia and among some religious figures, a sophisticated government campaign to turn Saudi public opinion against Islamic extremists appears to have gained some ground.

Some Saudis are now referring to Islamic extremists as "the grim reapers."

"They deserve the harshest punishment from the government," hospital administrator Bandar al-Malki, 28, said Wednesday. "They want to ruin us."

The family of one of the consulate attackers also condemned his act Wednesday, refusing to accept condolences for his death. And the country's highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik, called Monday's rampage a great sin.

The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and a consular office in eastern Saudi Arabia reopened, two days after the five militants stormed into the inner courtyard of the U.S. consulate in this western port city firing guns, grabbing human shields and killing five people. Four of the attackers were killed and one was wounded in an ensuing battle with Saudi forces.

Saudi newspapers, all government-guided, highlighted the agony of the victims' families, the heroism of Saudi security forces and public resentment toward extremists -- a line the papers have followed since the government began an aggressive anti-terror campaign after May 2003 bombing attacks on three residential compounds for Westerners and other foreigners.

Saudi newspapers identified one of the dead attackers as 28-year-old Fayez bin Awad al-Juhaini.

His cousin told Al-Watan newspaper that al-Juhaini had been fired for "bad behavior" from a job with the country's religious police in Medina, Islam's second holiest city. The police patrol cities for signs of religious misconduct -- such as a slipping veil or any socializing by unrelated men and women.

The cousin said al-Juhaini's family would not hold a wake for him, "as a sign of their rejection for the criminal act their son carried out," according to Al-Watan.

Since the 2003 attacks, the Saudi government has cracked down hard on militants, killing many. But it also has conducted a public relations campaign aimed at changing deep-rooted sympathies for Islamic extremism in a country that is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden as well as 15 of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.

State television, for example, last week aired emotional interviews with the fathers of militants condemning their own sons for carrying out terrorist attacks. State-guided media also have publicized the recantations of some prominent clerics once known for fiery anti-Western sermons.

It is unclear if the campaign itself has widely swayed public opinion. But the continued attacks by militants have clearly disgusted some Saudis.

On a grassy patch along Jiddah's seaside corniche, al-Malki and four hospital colleagues sat on rugs Wednesday, enjoying the breeze as they discussed Monday's attack.

"I feel upset every time I hear this kind of news coming from my country," said Ayman Hasan, 27. "The world should know that Islam does not condone such terror."

"These guys do not follow the true path of Islam," added Idriss al-Qouzi, 23. "They twist religious fact to satisfy their own desires."

Meanwhile, diplomats and analysts said the attack, which fell exactly a year after the Saudi government issued a list of 26 most-wanted militants, was another indication that extremists no longer are able to stage spectacular assaults like the compound bombings that killed 25 people 18 months ago.

This time, the attackers breached the consulate gates and wreaked havoc in the courtyard, but fell short of key objectives: No Americans were seized or killed. The attackers couldn't get their car into the compound. And all were killed or captured.

Nawaf Obaid, head of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, an independent research institute, said intelligence data had indicated an attack was in the works, but did not pinpoint the specific target.

"That's why the Jiddah attack failed in its end results," said Obaid, who is close to the government.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, also stressed the successes of the government crackdown.

He noted more than half the most-wanted militants have been killed or captured. In addition, hundreds of jailed suspects have provided valuable information, weapons caches and safe houses have been uncovered and communications have been disrupted among cell members, he said.

Still, the government does not "bet that the (militants) have been decimated," al-Turki added.

"I cannot dismiss the probability of there being terrorists and terror acts in the future," he said. "Our job is to be ready to foil such plans."

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Associated Press writer Rawya Rageh contributed to this report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.