The kingdom of Saudi Arabia often solves its problems by bringing them to a place unofficially called "chop-chop square." Crowds gather at the site next to a mosque in the center of the capital of Riyadh, and they watch as an executioner swings his sword and cuts off the heads of public enemies. That was the punishment meted out to four young men earlier this year after they confessed to the November 1995 bombing of an American-run training center in downtown Riyadh, an attack that killed seven people including five U.S. advisers. Chop-chop square is also likely to be the destination of some if not all of the 40 suspects the Saudis now have in custody for last June's Khobar Towers bombing near Dhahran, a blast that took the lives of 19 U.S. airmen. Chop-chop makes fast work of sticky problems.
Or maybe not. Saudi Arabia's problems are increasingly like the many-headed hydra of myth: slice off a head, others grow in its place. Worse, the Saudi government may be facing two hydras. The four men executed in the first bombing were members of the Sunni Muslim majority of the country. The 40 in custody for the Dhahran attack belong to the kingdom's Shi'ite minority. And the Shi'ite suspects bring with them the specter of a greater menace--Iran, the center of Shi'ism that lies about 160 miles across the gulf. Indeed, the Saudis believe Tehran is the true perpetrator of the Dhahran incident. They have turned over evidence to Washington, which is now considering the investigation's credibility and weighing the cost of retaliating against the Iranians. For the U.S. the choices are not good. Addicted to Saudi oil, it cannot ignore the conservative ruling family, yet cannot comfortably become Riyadh's enforcer. A White House decision is expected early next year.
Over the past 15 years, the Saudis contend there has been a pattern of Iranian subversion against Saudi Arabia. The tactics have ranged from bringing agents in on rubber boats to smuggling them across the Yemeni border. Riyadh says some infiltrators are employed in or near Saudi military installations; others have allegedly agitated radical elements of the Shi'ite community.
The evidence of an Iranian role in the Dhahran bombing is largely circumstantial, but Riyadh believes it is highly persuasive. Most of the 40 Shi'ites arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack have visited Iran. Some have been in Iranian-supported Hizballah training camps in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Many traveled between Syria, Iran and the Bekaa on false passports. With the help of FBI forensics experts, the explosive for the blast has been traced to the Lebanese Hizballah. The alleged Shi'ite driver of the truck used in the bombing is in custody. The bombmaker, a Lebanese Shi'ite linked to the Hizballah in Lebanon, has been identified and is believed to be in Iran. So is the leader of the Saudi Hizballah, the secret organization the Saudis uncovered after the Dhahran bombing. The Saudis believe all this points to Tehran. (They also suspect that rogue elements of Syria's security apparatus, on Iran's payroll, may be involved.)