Saudi Arabia: Royals Versus Radicals

For insight into how the attacks are seen inside the Saudi royal family, TIME Middle East Bureau Chief Scott MacLeod spoke to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. He is the nephew of King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, as well as being one of the world's wealthiest investors, with an estimated $20 billion in holdings — including a stake in Time.com's parent company, AOL Time Warner.

TIME: What is your reaction to the attacks?

Prince Alwaleed: The crisis, the terrorist act which took place here, mixed American blood with Saudi blood. If there is any doubt in America that Saudi Arabia is being targeted by terrorism, this should be eliminated now. If you had the 11th of September, we had the 12th of May. We are in bed together fighting terrorism.

TIME: Are Saudis surprised?

Prince Alwaleed: This is a wake-up call for us here, for the rulers of Saudi Arabia, to really take a harsh position against any extreme voice in this country. We have to take a very hard-line position, if not harsh position, to eradicate any extremism that we have in this nation.

TIME: Wasn't 9/11 the wake-up call?

Prince Alwaleed: Good question. 9/11 was a wakeup call for the whole world, obviously. But we have felt this latest act of terrorism in the heart of our country. Like the president, the government and the people of the U.S. felt after 9/11, we are feeling the same thing. My daughter went to give her condolences to the family of one of the people who died in the terrorist act. Her friend told her that she saw these terrorists coming with their machine guns, hand grenades and killing indiscriminately Saudis, Arabs, Muslims, non-Muslims and Americans.

TIME: Why now?

Prince Alwaleed: I don't believe that Al Qaeda is a functioning entity right now. It does not have lines of authority whereby it gets orders from wherever Mr. Bin Laden is. You have scattered groups that believe in what this guy is saying, and they act haphazardly and in an uncoordinated manner. There is a following for his beliefs, for what he does, obviously.

TIME: You acknowledge that Saudis have been tolerant of extremists?

Prince Alwaleed: In this country, extremism has been given a voice, and has not been subdued. If any person has doubts that we have extremists in Saudi Arabia, they ought to shut up now. There is very big extremism here. And extremism has shown its very ugly face by killing Arabs, Saudis, Americans and Westerners all together. There has been too much tolerance of extremism.

TIME: Why?

Prince Alwaleed: There is a feeling that if someone is religious, you have to accept what they are saying. Unfortunately, the government does not take a hard-line position with them, because they believe these people represent the Islamic direction. That is wrong. The Islamic direction is represented by the judicial system, by the highest Islamic authority. We have to differentiate between the prudent, logical, pragmatic religious people who have a moderate line and really represent Islam, and those who do not. There is a limit. The moment they go beyond the limit, they have to be stopped. There is no room for debate anymore.

TIME: Is this the tip of the iceberg?

Prince Alwaleed: Whether it is the tip of the iceberg or the beginning of the end will depend on how the government takes action, how harsh, how tough, how coordinated and how coherent it will be. Look at our neighbor, Egypt. Egypt had a terrorist act when many people were killed in Luxor in 1987. Egypt took draconian steps and terrorism is almost eradicated over there. In the United States, 9/11 occurred two years ago. The results have been no more terrorist acts in the United States.

TIME: What are you calling for?

Prince Alwaleed: Crown Prince Abdullah came on TV and publicly said that any person, no matter how big or small he is in this country, if he doesn't go against this act, then he is with those people. Prince Abdullah did exactly what Bush said two years ago, "You are with us or against us." We have President Bush Act II in Saudi Arabia now. The important thing right now is to have follow-through. If the government does not follow through, we are going to have more of these terrorist acts.

TIME: Don't you risk a confrontation with part of your society?

Prince Alwaleed: I think at this stage, right now, what is paramount is to fight terrorism. If the government has to step on some extremist toes, so be it. When the national interests of the country are at stake, you have to step on some toes, even if some of these toes are amputated. We cannot have any more leniency. If you read Prince Abdullah's speech, it shows that he is very adamant this time. I hope the acts will follow what he said. That remains to be seen.

TIME: Is there a problem with the religious establishment?

Prince Alwaleed: This is a very honorable nation. But you have some people who are extreme in the driver's seat. You can't let them hijack religion. They are brainwashing some of the youngsters who are ripe for brainwashing.

TIME: Who is in the driver's seat?

Prince Alwaleed: Bin laden is obviously not in Saudi Arabia now. But some people like the ideas of Bin Laden. There are some political, economic and social reasons. Politically, maybe they would like to have this government overthrown. Maybe some of them believe the United States is evil. There is a small minority of people. But it is a vocal minority, a violent minority, an aggressive minority. There are elements in the religious establishment who are extreme. Nobody can deny this.