Letter from Saudi Arabia: Daily dose of violence baffles Saudi citizens

What is happening in Saudi Arabia? Things are baffling, to say the least. These sorts of things rarely take place in this part of the world. Peace has been the hallmark of the entire Gulf region. Now that seems to be under strain. As a journalist, it is getting a tiring job to keep track of all the events taking place all around.

Almost on a daily basis there are reports of clashes between the security forces and the extremists, in one part or the other. People are getting killed, injured or apprehended. Raids are carried out on suspected hideouts of extremists.

The Saudi interior minister says that the campaign against the extremists has been successful and that only a few more pockets remain. The authorities seem determined to overcome these as well.

Some newspapers described last Thursday, when incidents took place in Riyadh early in the morning before Suhoor and then later in Makkah, as a "Day of Violence".

Many people were arrested during these incidents. One of those arrested reportedly included a senior Al Qaida figure, allegedly responsible for planning and executing operations within the GCC states.

Although no official confirmation is available, some say the US decision to close down its missions in the Kingdom for at last three days for security concerns, may have been based on information gathered from this senior Al-Qaida member, arrested last Thursday.

The US warning said they have reports that extremists are in the process of carrying out already planned operations against the US and other western targets in the Kingdom. All this is baffling, especially since they are taking place during the blessed month of Ramadan.

In the midst of this chaos, US President George W Bush has fired another salvo. The emphasis this time has been on "democratisation of the Middle East".

This is coming at a time when Saudi Arabia is already grappled with a reform process, which must take into account the local social, cultural and religious realities. Prince Na-yef says that the reforms have to be within the framework of Islamic tenets. Now what lies within the framework of Islam and what does not, is debatable.

But what is certain is that no one could accept Bush as an authority on Islam. There are many within the Islamic world who do not believe that a Western style of democracy would fit into the local milieu.

Many people in the region now strongly feel that the Bush argument is leading the entire region towards another round of chaos and instability. Many had feared that in the wake of the Iraqi occupation, the US might be tempted to venture towards further regime changes in the region.

There are some who feel that their suspicions are coming true. Under the pretext of "democratisation", the US seems to be embarking on the path of forcible regime change.

Take the example of Syria. Damascus has still not given in to all the demands of Israel and the US. It retains its own line of thinking on the Middle East peace process while the US wants it to accept the US drafted peace plan in toto.

The Americans and the Syrians still differ on the definition of terrorism. What Syria thinks as legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation is dubbed "terrorism" by Ariel Sharon and his sponsors in Washington.

Hence, some say Syria could be among the first targets for forcible regime change, followed by Iran. Many here believe that the fault of the Iranians is that they are not ready to toe the US line.

Other regimes in the region, which fail to submit to America's designs, may also have to face the music. To what extent would this serve the democratic process in the region? This is subject to debate.

What is more disturbing is that if instability and chaos loom large over the entire peninsula, in the name of democracy or something else, the sole beneficiary would be the US. After all, the first Gulf war provided the US the opportunity to establish a presence in the region and the second Iraq war brought it into Iraq and in places all around in the Gulf. Instability, it seems, suits the Americans.

Still, while Americans may have been winning some of the battles, they have lost the trust and confidence of the average man in the region. Whatever they are saying today is taken with a pinch of salt. This is definitely not a good omen, neither for the Americans nor for the people of the region.