The Saudi monarchy has historically drawn its legitimacy from the blessing of Wahhabist clerics. The oil boom of the mid-20th century enabled the Saudi government to spend huge amounts of money to promote Wahhabist precepts abroad by establishing mosques and schools.
Some radical offshoots of the doctrine vigorously oppose the economic or military influence of non-Muslim countries -- notably the United States and Israel -- in the Middle East and have justified terrorism as a weapon against them. Reformers inside the kingdom say the royal family's biggest challenge in the fight against terrorism is to gain more control over the Wahhabist religious establishment, a powerful group that has resisted outside influences for generations.
Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, arrives at an international anti-terrorism conference in Riyadh.
(Amr Nabil -- AP)
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Khalil Khalil, a professor of Islamic studies in Riyadh who has ties to the royal family, said the country's rulers were taking gradual but decisive steps in that direction. "It's a tough mission, but it is possible," he said. "Is the government going to be successful? I have no doubt, no doubt.
"Take it from me: I've been very critical," he said, "but I've seen a major shift in Saudi Arabia. The policymakers have said, 'Enough is enough.' They realize there is a danger and that it is like a cancer that is spreading in the Saudi national body."
Addressing the root causes of terrorism, including Islamic extremism, are supposed to be a major focus of the conference here. But it remains to be seen whether Saudi organizers will allow a public airing of their domestic problems.
Prince Saud Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told reporters the conference was a serious effort to improve international anti-terrorist collaboration.
"Our efforts are aimed at ending this scourge from the region, not to improve our image in any society," he said. "No one can blame Saudi Arabia, saying it didn't do its due diligence when it comes to terrorism."
Frances Fragos Townsend, President Bush's homeland security adviser, led a U.S. delegation to the conference and praised Saudi efforts to tackle underlying social and religious problems that contribute to radicalism. She said she was struck by the degree to which official Saudi clerics have spoken out against terrorism and violence.
"It's really quite extraordinary that religious leaders are entering this dialogue and offering both wisdom and guidance in regards to this," she told a small group of reporters. The world cannot defeat terrorism unless Saudi Arabia achieves "victory over extremism and terrorism on its own soil," she said.
Some critics say the Saudi government is sincere in its desire to fight terrorism but is still too reluctant to take on Wahhabist clerics who preach intolerance of other religions.
"They just cut the head and left the root deep in the earth," said Mansour Nogaidan, a former Islamic radical who once served time in prison for firebombing a Riyadh video store that sold Western movies. "The terrorism is just the logical consequence for the religious extremist views in society. These views are held very deeply."
Nogaidan said in an interview that he changed his views while in prison and had received death threats for arguing publicly that Muslims should accept Jews, Christians and Buddhists as equals. He said the government had talked tough about confronting Islamic extremism, but failed to take concrete steps.
For example, he said the government's assertion that it fired 2,000 clerics for preaching hatred was dubious and that most had returned to their mosques.
"There is no real will to solve this problem," he said. "The officials, they don't know what extremism is."
U.S. officials have expressed strong concerns about Saudis and other foreigners going to Iraq to fight. The Saudi government has sealed its borders and said the number of people who had made it into Iraq to join the insurgency was small.
But many in the kingdom said they worried that the fighters would return to Saudi Arabia and join the al Qaeda insurgency here.
"I have very deep fears because young people fighting in Iraq are getting very good training to use weapons," said Abdullah Bejad Oteibi, a former Saudi radical who is now a writer and outspoken reformer in Riyadh. "I know many people who have gone to fight there. The most important thing is that they get addicted to fighting, and they will come back wanting to fight."
