> Careful. There are Islamicists and Islamicists. You can disagree with
> them all. But it would be foolish (in another context, someone might say
> anti-semitic) to lump them all into one side, as in your "his side"
> identifying him with ObL.
I don't lump him in with ObL. He clearly distinguishes himself as more moderate. But he also positions himself as more islamicist than the Saudi royal family -- which is saying something. When an article appears in the Guardian prophecizing the immiment fall of the Saudi government, most readers would presume that criticism is coming from a perspective that is more secular than that government, and not one that is more religious.
This is a general problem for Western readers. Most presume that the Saudi government is more religiously restrictive than the majority of Saudi Arabians. But historically, the opposite as been the case. Most indigenous criticism of Saudi government has been for going too far in the direction of secularism.
Michael