SOME stories that have appeared on foreign news wires have cast some doubt on the current threat of terrorism in the Kingdom, saying that the Ministry of the Interior has undertaken a public relations campaign for itself, championing its terror-fighting efficiency by exaggerating the size of its weapons hauls and the number of truly threatening figures placed under arrest. Yesterday's announcement, however, that border police foiled the smuggling of 1,000 kg of explosives across Saudi Arabia's southern border in the second quarter of this year, double the amount confiscated in the first quarter. should be evidence enough that the Ministry and the border patrol are on their toes and doing an effective job in keeping the Kingdom free of terrorism. It was not just explosives that were confiscated at the border. Hand grenades, dynamite sticks, guns, bomb fuses, 100 coils of detonation and various types of ammunition were also part of the border patrol's haul. By vigorously pursuing the domestic terrorist threat and tenaciously developing and applying a reeducation program for those considered to have fallen victim to a “deviant ideology,” Kingdom authorities have gone a long way in preventing a terrorist attack on Saudi soil for the past four years. Many of the terrorists intent on damaging the Kingdom's achievements have fled the country to Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon, to join similar deviant groups with some of them already beginning to wreak havoc there, frightening off badly-needed tourism revenues and investments by targeting visitors of all foreign nationalities, kidnapping and killing some. The big prize of such terrorists, however, is Saudi Arabia with its oil wealth and reserves and its political influence that is both regional and international. Enforcement is the first step, of course, in stemming attempts to reak havoc here. But that should be supported by the development of an economy that can both educate the masses and then provide them with jobs that are appropriate to that education. Discontent will always be a part of any and all political and economic systems. It is incumbent upon us all to fight terrorism on more than one front, and that includes the preachers of hatred and those who finance those deviant groups and enable them to wreak their havoc. __
