Saudi attacks reinforce need for coalition building

Saudi attacks reinforceneed for coalition building
The front line in the war on terror shifted this week to Saudi Arabia. The deadly assault on oil compounds in an eastern province serves as a chilling reminder that Al-Qaida-linked militants remain global in their scope and multifaceted in their tactics.
More important, the oil-compound attacks accent the urgency for stronger coalition building and the senselessness of complacency.
According to press reports, the terrorists, believed to range in age from late teens to early 20s, were driven by a single-minded goal to kill Westerners and non-Muslims. They slashed the throats of nine hostages and fatally shot a Kentucky man signing paychecks for his workers at his desk. The siege ended Sunday when Saudi commandos and security forces successfully stormed the Khobar Petroleum Center. The 25-hour siege killed 22 people, including an American.
The attacks, the deadliest in a recent string of terrorist-sponsored assaults in the homeland of Osama bin Laden, also aimed to disrupt the oil industry and batter the economies of the United States and its Western allies.
They illustrated, too, that extremists continue to expand their tactics of terror, which previously had been confined mostly to nighttime suicide bombings on housing complexes.
Fortunately, though, the attacks also have strengthened Saudi Arabia's resolve to fight terrorism and to work closely with the United States and other nations in doing so.
A fight on three fronts
This week, Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, vowed an aggressive three-pronged fight: a relentless dragnet for terrorists, an educational campaign to remind its citizens of the true peaceful tenets of Islam and an aggressive drive to identify and shut down financial sources that support terrorism.
To that latter end, Saudi Arabia and U.S. officials announced this week a joint crackdown on the Haramain Islamic Foundation, a major Saudi charity that's suspected of funneling donations to militant Islamic movements worldwide.
Such aggressiveness and global teamwork are encouraging signs, particularly for a nation that was reluctant to become an active player in the war on terror in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11.
As with the ongoing conflict in Iraq, the United States cannot successfully accomplish the broadbased mission to trounce Al-Qaida on its own. Increasing support from Saudi Arabia is indeed an encouraging sign, but similar cooperation and teamwork from other nations are critical.
We cannot wait for additional assaults on oil companies that would threaten even higher oil prices. We cannot wait for more bombings on public transit systems to gain the fervid support of more Western and Middle Eastern nations. We cannot wait for terrorists to unleash their vengeance anew on American soil.
The time is now to redouble efforts at coalition building. As experience continues to teach, complacency and inaction do little but open the door of opportunity for Al-Qaida and its ilk.