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Some U.S. investigators think the Saudis could be learning a lot more about al-Qaeda members they have captured or killed. These officials say their Saudi counterparts have not seemed interested in setting up an analytical unit to pore over the suspects' financial records, computer hard drives, emails, phone records and other data. "Their attitude has been, 'Swift Sword is dead, so what use are his records?'" says a U.S. official. "Everybody's been looking for bullets and bombs, but nobody's paid any attention to the paper." The Americans hope to use the task force to convince the Saudis of the value of what the FBI inelegantly calls link analysis and associational databases.
THE CULTURE: ROOTING OUT TEACHINGS OF INTOLERANCE
Cracking heads and crunching data aren't the only ways to combat terrorism; there's also the matter of changing minds. Most Saudis greatly resent the implication that Wahhabism, the puritanical brand of Islam practiced in the kingdom, has any connection to terrorism. Still, some are beginning to acknowledge that Saudi culture has bred an antipathy toward non-Muslims ("infidels" in Muslim parlance) that can lead to violence. After the May 12 attacks, the newspaper al-Watan made just that link in a series of articles and cartoons. That proved to be too much for the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars. After it complained to Prince Abdullah, al-Watan's editor, Jamal Khashoggi, was fired. That, however, has not silenced Turki al-Hamad, a Saudi columnist for the London-based paper Asharq al-Awsat. "The official clergy in Saudi Arabia denounce violence, but the theoretical base of Wahhabism is a problem," says al-Hamad. "It is not enhancing or encouraging violence directly, but if you analyze the creed itself, you will reach these results." Al-Hamad goes so far as to argue that Saudis should "renounce" Wahhabism. His views have made him the subject of a number of fatwas issued by Saudi clerics calling for his death.
Whether Prince Abdullah accepts that there is a cultural problem or just thinks he needs to improve his p.r. with the West, he has begun to address his country's reputation for chauvinism. TV's Channel 1, which like all Saudi media is state controlled, has begun to air a program called War on Terrorism. It has featured footage of the Sept. 11 and May 12 attacks as well as old speeches by Saudi leaders urging respect for foreign countries. In an effort to cool the rhetoric in Saudi mosques, authorities say they have arrested nine militant clerics. If any preacher now advocates violence, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told TIME, "they are removed immediately." Saudi spokesmen say they have fired 2,000 so far (all mosque positions are government appointed), although they have declined to produce a list. But Abdul Rahman al-Matroudi, Vice Minister of Islamic Affairs, insists that they were not dismissed for their teachings but for "turning up late, not turning up at all, this kind of thing." al-Matroudi allows that as many as 3,000 imams are being retrained in mosque study circles after they were deemed insufficiently prepared to promote the new emphasis on tolerance.