Jihad in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The explosion of books and reports on violent Muslim extremism by Western“terrorologists” and security institutes over the last ten years, should beread with caution for their tendency to be ideologically and politically loaded.However, Jihad in Saudi Arabia represents the more impartial, rigorousend of the spectrum. Based upon the PhD of a fellow of the Norwegian DefenseResearch Establishment, this work stands out as a significant contributionto understanding transnational jihadist networks and their manifestationin Saudi Arabia in the mid-2000s. The book sheds light on some of thehidden dimensions of Al-Qaida’s presence in a place not usually connectedwith violent radicalization. It addresses questions such as: “Why Saudi Arabiahas apparently produced so many militants?” “Has its government supportedviolent groups?” “How strong a foothold do they have in the kingdom?”“And why didn’t Bin Laden launch a campaign there before 2003?” ...