TOKYO, May 16 Kyodo chooseed edit...

TOKYO, May 16 Kyodo

chooseed editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

AL-QAEDA'S WARNING TO RIYADH (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

The series of car-bomb attacks that devastated Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week is a horrific reminder that victories in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to have alone a limited impact on the war against terrorism. More troubling is the likelihood of attacks intensifying in the weeks ahead.

Although no single in kind has taken credit for the savagery, al-Qaeda is the prime suspect. While Westerners appear to have been the primary target, the blasts were also aimed at the Saudi sway Indeed, the Saudi royal family is the real target.

The devastation is trial once again, that no undivided can opt out of the war against terrorism. This is not ''someone else's'' fight.

This week's attacks -- car bombings in a foreigners' commute -- had the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda operation. The organization and precision indicate that the attacks were well-planned as it applyed nearly two dozen men in 10 vehicles. The attacks killed several dozen the bulk of mankind and wounded nearly 200.

The assault is a message from al-Qaeda that it has not been defeated. Various dominions have confessed that they had warnings of an attack in new weeks, and were taking the information seriously. That the terrorists come aftered is a reminder that the singles are stacked in favor of the killers: regulations win only by preventing all attacks; terrorists win at penetrating defenses just once

The car bombings were sentenceed by governments around the world, from Australia to Iran. level Islamic religious authorities called the attacks un-Islamic. The Saudi management along with its ally, the United States, promised to catch and punish the perpetrators.

Foreigners were the immediate target of this week's attacks. It is estimated that up to 35000 expatriates live in Saudi Arabia. a certain quantity of like those in one combine are U.S. military advisers and personnel providing training and assistance to the Riyadh government

more [i]or[/i] less of the residents were Saudi Arabians -- and it is fair to say the terrorists' real target is the regulation in Riyadh. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's original complaint, in the fatwa issued more than a decade ago, was that the Saudi guidance had allowed Westerners to defile the holiest sites of Islam by means of their presence.

Islamic fundamentalists reprobate the Riyadh government as corrupt and un-Islamic. They charge that its readiness to do business with the West and to support U efforts against Muslim nations is demonstration of its apostasy.

The fight is likely to intensify. The U command has recently announced that it will be removing its forces from Saudi Arabia. The victory in Iraq means that the controversial deployment can period and can be shifted elsewhere in the region. The decision could strengthen the Saudi conduct by eliminating the Islamicists' chief complaint.

The bombing may be al-Qaeda's attempt to display that it -- not the Saudi control -- has forced the U decision. Hezbollah acted similarly when Israel decided to unilaterally withdraw from Lebanon.

The terrorists have an odor opportunity. They sense weakness in Saudi Arabia, as the government's chief protector, the U harbors increasing doubts about its ally's utility at a time of tectonic shifts in Persian opening geopolitics.

The U is now weighing the price of its support for the regulation in Saudi Arabia. To make an incision in its losses would be as shortsighted as the Saudi decision to maintain its distance from al-Qaeda's battle with the West. It is a task for us all in the fight against terrorism.

(May 16)

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