THE OPPOSITION CHANGES STRATEGIES

The opposition's call for demonstrations contrasted with the methods used by the foremost opposition leader, Osama bin Laden, who had opted to wage war against the royal family and its allies from such faraway places as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The demonstrations came at a time when the paramilitary opposition is facing suppression at home and abroad. Feeling the heat of the government domestically, and the U.S.-led international community the world over, the paramilitary opposition has resorted to desperate action, such as the bombing on November 8 of the residential compound in Riyadh, housing mostly other Muslims and Arabs.

As the paramilitary activity loses steam, the demonstrations have come to replace them, and may in fact signal the beginning maturation of the opposition, as it has opted for peaceful means to make its demands. (The demonstrations should go on hold while the government and the armed opposition engage in confrontations.) The idea clearly is to embarrass the royal family before the United States, the closest of Saudi allies. It plays to the American rhetoric calling for overnight democracy in the Kingdom. Islah has called for more demonstrations, including a large one to take place in the holy city of Mecca during the holy month of Ramadan. (The Saudi government in early November had intensified its campaign to rein in opposition groups in Mecca, especially that a number of these are armed and very well trained.) Unfortunately for the London-based opposition, the desperate paramilitary acts of the al Qaeda-connected Jihadists, as they kill other Muslims and Arabs, should dampen domestic support for all the opposition--peaceful and paramilitary. This dampening of support should be temporary.