Bin Laden aide surrenders to Saudi authorities

An alleged al-Qaida chief, Khaled bin Ouda al-Harby, turned himself into Saudi Arabian authorities Tuesday as part of an amnesty program the country implemented last month.\nSaudi officials in mid-June devised a one-month amnesty program to commute the sentences of militants who turned themselves in to the government.\nThe Saudi government has come under intense domestic and international pressure to combat an increasingly violent militant movement in the country. \nOne month ago, a Saudi militant group beheaded Paul Johnson, a 49-year-old American contractor who worked in Saudi Arabia. The beheading drew wide-spread condemnation internationally and within Saudi Arabia.\nMisfer Al-Salouli, a graduate math student and Saudi citizen, said Saudis were repulsed by the murder.\n"The media here do not ask the Saudi people themselves," he said. "Not just the people, but also the Islamic scholars are against killing any innocent person."\nAl-Salouli said the response of the Saudi people was particularly strong and many people called on Johnson's captors to release him before his death.\nJohnson's murder, which was filmed and posted on the Internet by a group that calls itself al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia, was the most graphic in a recent series of attacks on Westerners in the Kingdom. \nHours after Paul Johnson's murder Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the alleged leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia, was killed in a gun battle with Saudi security forces.\nA few days prior to Johnson murder two other Americans, Kenneth Scroggs and Robert Jacobs were shot dead in targeted attacks in Saudi Arabia. \nIn May armed militants killed 22 people in an attack on a residential compound housing expatriate workers in the country's oil industry.\nDespite the simmering tension in Saudi Arabia political science professor Jeffery Hart doubts the militant groups will achieve their stated agenda through violent means.\n"I don't think this particular tactic will have that much of an affect on Saudi Arabia," Hart said. "It's kind of a desperate tactic, and in the long run, I think it hurts (the militants') political legitimacy more than it gains them in the short term."\nThe Web site of the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia warns U.S. citizens in the country to "continue to exercise caution in matters concerning personal security. Americans should try to maintain a low profile, vary routes and times for travel." \nScaring foreigners out of Saudi Arabia is one of the goals of Saudi militant groups. Statements on militant Islamist websites have also called for revenge against the occupation of Iraq and the overthrow of Saudi Arabia's ruling House of Saud royal family.\nDina Spechler, an associate professor of political science said the militants do not have a wide support base among the Saudi Arabian population.\n"The terrorists are gradually alienating more people than they are winning over," she said. "Time is against them."\nSpechler said the insecurity in the country may cause some Westerners to leave in the immediate future, but added that it is very unlikely to harm to the stability of the Saudi government. \n"This won't ultimately bring down the monarchy," she said. \nProfessor Hart said there are deeper questions at hand.\n"The underlying issue is whether the Saudi government is really going to put the squeeze on the Wahhabi extremists," he said.\nThe Saudi government has pledged to vigorously track down militants who do not surrender themselves when the amnesty period ends.\nDespite some recent arrests, Hart said the monarchy has had an uneasy history of appeasing militants.\nAl-Salouli, however, said the Saudi population has lost patience with the militants.\n"People are cooperating with the government," he said. "Every person is working as a policeman because you don't know if you may be one of the victims."\n-- Contact staff writer Seraphim Danckaert at sdanckar@indiana.edu. The Associated Press contributed to this report.