Editing Islamism (section)

===Persian Gulf War (1990–1991)===
{{See also|Gulf War}}
Another factor in the early 1990s that worked to radicalize the Islamist movement was the [[Gulf War]], which brought several hundred thousand US and allied non-Muslim military personnel to Saudi Arabian soil to put an end to [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[occupation of Kuwait]]. Prior to 1990 Saudi Arabia played an important role in restraining the many Islamist groups that received its aid. But when Saddam, secularist and [[Ba'athism|Ba'athist]] dictator of neighboring Iraq, attacked Kuwait (his enemy in the war), western troops came to protect the Saudi monarchy. Islamists accused the Saudi regime of being a puppet of the west.

These attacks resonated with conservative Muslims and the problem did not go away with Saddam's defeat either, since American troops remained stationed in the kingdom, and a de facto cooperation with the Palestinian-Israeli peace process developed. Saudi Arabia attempted to compensate for its loss of prestige among these groups by repressing those domestic Islamists who attacked it (bin Laden being a prime example), and increasing aid to Islamic groups (Islamist madrassas around the world and even aiding some violent Islamist groups) that did not, but its pre-war influence on behalf of moderation was greatly reduced.<ref>''Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam'' [[Gilles Kepel]] pp. 205–17</ref> One result of this was a campaign of attacks on government officials and tourists in [[al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya|Egypt]], a bloody civil war in [[List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s|Algeria]] and [[Osama bin Laden]]'s terror attacks climaxing in the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|9/11 attack]].<ref>''Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam'' [[Gilles Kepel]] p. 207</ref>