Saudi state television turned to interviewing everyone from children to intellectuals to try to rally citizens against terrorism as it reported Saturday on the latest outburst of extremist violence in the kingdom.
| Hmmm... Maybe we should do that here... |
As the hostage standoff continued into the night, Saudi TV's last newscast of the day included brief interviews with six men, apparently security officers, injured in Khobar. They all denounced the attacks and said they were wounded doing their national duty - protecting the country. Since car bomb attacks that killed 35 people, including nine suicide bombers, at three Riyadh compounds housing foreigners last year, Saudi Arabia has launched public relations campaign aimed at discouraging Saudis from offering any kind of support to extremists. It has also led to an unprecedented public discussion in Saudi Arabia about whether the austere version of Islam expounded in the kingdom might contribute to extremist violence. On Saturday, Saudi television broadcast patriotic anthems and interviewed a number of Saudis and foreigners living here, who all denounced the latest attacks. The citizens called upon the government to deal with the militants firmly, with some calling the perpetrators the "deviant bunch," one of the labels Saudi authorities have used to describe militants. The interviews appeared with the caption "The Street Pulse." Children were also interviewed, and many described the attacks as "terrorism." On an hour-long talk show aired Saturday, intellectuals called upon the nation to stand up to terrorists. |