Ayman Adh-Dhawahiri and the Saudi role in the Conspiracy. It is a sign that Ayman Adh-Dhawihiri showed up his face and gave one of his tedious fulminations--fortunately, all his calls fall on deaf Muslim ears. But it was public opinion pressures--even Al-Qa`idah feels them. This is a sign of what is building up among he Arab/Muslim public although I would never expect revolutionary momentum to topple regimes any time soon. But the new US/Israeli/Arab conspiracy required an Arab role in fomenting Sunni-Shi`ite divisions and seditions. The plan would have worked, had the US selected a more credible leader of Arab Sunnis than the Guardian of the Two Holy things. The Saudi King? Are you kidding me? He does not even speak for the Sunni House of Saud. If anything: whatever is supported by the Saudi King will be ridiculed and mocked by Arab public. Do you know how wildly detested the Gulf royals are? During the Arab Cold War, the Arab public threw its lot with Nasser. There was no mistake about it; even some members of the royal family joined Nasser--how much Prince Talal would like to forget that. What I find more noteworthy than Dhawahiri's statement--and it is significant in the way he falsely presented Al-Qa`idah as an organization that sought to unite Muslims (it was also significant that he used the Qur'anic term mustadh`afin, which was quite popularized by Khumayni)--is the statement by the well-known fundamentalist "thinker", Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. Now Qaradawi speaks for important segments of Muslim Sunni public opinion. His statement was made--in support of Hizbullah--as part of his taped Sunday show on Al-Jazeera. And AlJazeera made sure to air it today. But Nasrallah and Qaradawi--many people don't know--have been friends, or friendly, although Salafi groups attacked Qaradawi for his meetings with Nasrallah. And even the Muslim Brotherhood (not to mention Saudi intellectuals and clerics) in Egypt officially disagreed with the Saudi position on Lebanon. The Saudi position in the current conspiracy seems to be weakening: Saudi Arabia is showing signs of embarrassment and confusion. I don't think that brilliant planners of House of Saud--and US and Israel behind them, or ahead of them--expected the Sunni Arab opinion to be so solidly behind Hizbullah's stance in South Lebanon. They really expected--how foolish, come to think of it--Arab public opinion to rally behind Mubarak, and the two royal `Abdullahs. Say what you wish about Arab public opinion but it never rallied behind those royals. The sudden announcement of the Saudi financial gift to Lebanon--which it will not materialize, mark my words--was intended to beautify the Saudi image not only in Lebanon, but in the larger Arab world, more importantly. Similarly, Israeli bombers have allowed Jordanian planes to bring medical supplies to Beirut airport, also to help them out in this "PR" mess. What will this mean? Saudi Arabia is embarrassed, and that explains their last statement warning (the US, presumably) that things would get worse in the Middle East. If Hizbullah does not respond directly to the Saudi role in this conspiracy after all this is over it will only reinforce the view that they allow themselves to be used in Iranian foreign policy.