Brutal Reminder of Need for Stringent Security : Riyadh blast underscores the ongoing reality of terrorism

The explosion last Nov. 13 that killed five Americans at a military installation in Riyadh was a brutal warning that even in a country as closely policed as Saudi Arabia, terrorism is a threat to be taken seriously. The explosion Tuesday night at the huge Dhahran air base that killed at least 19 Americans and injured hundreds of others was evidence that even tighter security and heightened alert may not be enough to mitigate that threat.

Terrible as it was, the Dhahran atrocity could have been far worse. The truck used in the attack carried as much as 5,000 pounds of explosives--more than was used in Oklahoma City. The detonation came about 10:30 p.m., when most of the 2,000 or more Americans at Dhahran were in or near their living quarters. Had the truck been able to get closer to the compound the casualties would certainly have matched or exceeded those in the 1983 truck bomb attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241. Notice has been served: Given the damage truck bombs can do, the defensive zone around U.S. installations in Saudi Arabia must be expanded.

Until Tuesday, most Americans had forgotten that more than five years after the end of the Persian Gulf War 5,000 or so U.S. Air Force and Army personnel remain in Saudi Arabia. Their presence is downplayed in deference to Saudi sensibilities, especially the royal family’s fears that it will be accused by ultra-religious elements of having invited corrupting Western influences into the country. For its economic well-being Saudi Arabia must do business with the West. For its survival it must depend on Western military protection against such nearby predators as Iraq and Iran. From the American perspective, Saudi Arabia’s continued security and independence are vital interests, because it sits atop 25% of the world’s known oil reserves. All this makes for a necessary relationship, but not an especially warm one.

Responsibility for the Dhahran explosion remains to be fixed. A repressive regime now struggling with a stagnant economy has plenty of internal foes as well as the regional ones earlier noted, and because the United States is allied with that regime it can expect to have local enemies as well. U.S. officials say terrorism won’t end the American military presence. Well and good, but the demonstrated power of terrorism ought to impel urgent steps to better safeguard that presence.