AL QAEDA STRIKES

More Islamic, or Arab--whatever--mass murder. This time a team of thugs rammed their way into a gated expat community in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, shooting at innocent civilians before detonating a series of bombs. Scores are dead, including many Americans. The death toll seems to rise every time I hit "Refresh." This looks like the largest terrorist attack since Bali, which killed over 200 tourists.

Of course, this all took place on Saudi soil, and in the wake of our win in Iraq and the announcement that we're pulling our troops out of Saudi Arabia. Wasn't that one of al Qaeda's stated reasons for hating us? It was a lie obviously. They didn't really care that we were in Saudi Arabia, just that we were. That we exist. It's a sad fact that many of us still don't get this.

On 9-11, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi. Today's attack took place on Saudi soil, the third major al Qaeda attack against American or Western interests to take place on Saudi soil since 1995. In the first two, the Saudis played a double game, insisting that they were assisting our investigation while in reality blocking it at every turn. The Saudis executed some of the Khobar Towers bombers before we had the chance to interrogate them, permanently silencing them. If the Saudis so much as breathe that they're playing that game around this time around, it should mean the end of Saudi rule in Arabia. No more games, no more coverups. Total cooperation or the US forces that are leaving can stay put and invade from within.

As for al Qaeda, today's attack was pretty pathetic by its standards. That terrorist army once hijacked multiple aircraft simultaneously and flew them into American skyscrapers. It openly sought nuclear and biological weapons material. But the best it can do now after nearly two years of direct warfare against us is crash the gates of a civilian community and kill unarmed people. Al Qaeda's old MO was to always top its last attack. Judging by that, today's attack indicates that while it's still capable of mounting small-scale attacks in its own backyard, it is largely a spent force elsewhere. We need to keep up the pressure and destroy what's left, never relenting until the last terrorist is dead.