The report said Al Qaida operatives in Saudi Arabia were largely
recruited through social networks rather than the mosque or Islamic
institutions. Authored by Thomas Hegghammer and published in Middle East Policy, the study said most of the
recruits did not express anti-American sentiments before they underwent
training in Al Qaida camps in Afghanistan.
"My analysis was based on a collection of 240 biographies, compiled from
Arabic primary sources and extensive fieldwork in the kingdom of Saudi
Arabia," Hegghammer said. "So I feel that this work provides a fairly
accurate picture of these militants."
The study disputed the image of Al
Qaida as an insurgency group sustained by religious Muslims. Hegghammer said
most of the Saudi recruits had no intention of fighting the United States or
other Western states.
"The most common motivations for going to Afghanistan were: a desire to
fight in Chechnya; a desire to defend the Taliban from the Northern
Alliance; and adventurism," the report said. "Anti-American sentiments were
only developed after their time with Bin Laden's cohorts."
The report said the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 foreshadowed
the Al Qaida offensive in Saudi Arabia two years later. Hegghammer said the
invasion forced hundreds of Saudi recruits home and prompted Al Qaida to
change its strategy.
"These returnees used their military contacts from Afghanistan to
organize their new Al Qaida movement at home," Hegghammer said. "This work
highlights the need to track returnees from war zones, and the importance of
the social networks formed in those areas. Future returnees from Iraq must
be closely monitored in order to prevent future instability in Saudi
Arabia."
