Saudi coppers have arrested five people who they claim used the Internet to propagate "extremism and incite youths to go to troubled areas."

In the terminology of Saudi Arabia this .means "Al-Qaeda operatives" and it appears that three Saudis and two foreign residents have been collared. The five used various aliases to promote
"misleading propaganda through the Internet and incite young generations and facilitate their departure to areas of sedition like Iraq."

The Ministry said that the group members hid behind their computers and gave themselves several assumed names" in order to post material under one alias and post support for it under a different
alias.

This gave the impression that there was more support for their ideas than was actually true. Some of the alias include colorful titles such as Prince of the slaughterers, the Holy Warrior Lion and and Father of Islam.

However, foreign journalists are more cynical.  Saudi authorities periodically announce the arrest of scores of Saudi and foreign Al-Qaeda suspects and the thwarting of plots to attack targets, including oil facilities in the kingdom. 

One observer pointed out that although terrorism is a problem in Saudi Arabia it is also very useful for the regime to be seen as battling something and not just making huge wodges of cash from oil reserves.