Hi, Welcome to King's Bay ... can I take your order?
yes, 24 more D5's to go please ... extra MIRV'd ...
what's scary about this, and we really don't want to see nuclear war, is that there are few options in dealing with these guys ...
Posted on 12/07/2003 12:52:10 AM PST by Bobby777
Al-Qaida has launched a campaign designed to undermine the security and finances of the Saudi royal family.
Western intelligence sources said the latest al-Qaida attacks indicate a campaign is underway to isolate the Saudi royal family and threaten its financial base. The campaign is based on intimidating leading Arab and Western advisers from remaining in the kingdom.
The Nov. 9 attack on the Muhaya compound appeared to signal a shift in al-Qaida strategy. Until then, the sources said, al-Qaida targeted Western nationals in the kingdom who were not considered crucial to the regime's survival.
But in the Muhaya suicide car bombing, the target was a compound that housed Lebanese financial advisers to the royal family.
The sources said the Muhaya compound included bankers and smugglers who facilitated earnings of billions of dollars in undeclared revenue.
"The royal family is in a panic and now believes al-Qaida is playing for keeps," a senior Western intelligence source said. "Without its financial advisers, the family is completely exposed."
Al-Qaida has sown panic throughout the kingdom's security forces by demonstrating it can penetrate military and other facilities with ease. British and U.S. advisers have been of little use, the sources said, because the Saudi royal family does not want to disclose information that would demonstrate the extent of al-Qaida's influence in the country.
On Nov. 22, a fire was reported in the Riyad Armed Forces hospital. The fire destroyed several rooms and caused security forces to be placed on alert throughout the region. Several foreign nurses were injured.
"This is a deliberate campaign that seeks to increase the pressure on the royal family by telling them they aren't safe anywhere, even within their own military," another Western intelligence analyst said. "This has sparked a debate over how to reconcile with al-Qaida and end this war."
On Dec. 1, Saudi Arabia provided the first official details of the Nov. 9 bombing at the Muhaya compound. Al-Qaida had smuggled in explosives from Yemen to Saudi Arabia. In late November, Saudi authorities found an additional 1.2 tons of explosives believed to have been smuggled in from Yemen.
An interior ministry statement said that in the Nov. 9 attack, al-Qaida insurgents approached the Muhaya compound while firing rifles and hurling grenades toward the gate. While the firefight was taking place, a jeep painted with the insignia of security forces and packed with 300 kilograms explosives drove into the compound.
"Then it was blown up in a suicide operation," the statement said. "Investigators have found out who is behind this operation and measures are still being taken. Security forces are still chasing the perpetrators and, God willing, they will be found and brought to justice."
In Sanaa, meanwhile, Yemeni security forces arrested a senior al-Qaida leader, Mohammed Hamdi Al Ahdal, suspected of masterminding the suicide bombing of the USS Cole.
In 1999 Al Ahdal was arrested in Saudi Arabia and spent 14 months in prison for his ties to Saudi billionaire bomber Osama bin Laden. He was then deported to Yemen.
Now prehaps, but in the 70's and 80's it was Iran supplying the money, who will be next once Saudi money drys up?
Besides, these terrorist groups are the perfect way for an enemy to attack the US without them actually doing the action. They just need to funnel money and supplies to them. What is to keep any country from giving these groups money?
Especially if we possess "veto power at gunpoint" over any new government to make sure they don't revert to type.
Great insight. I think that's a byproduct of our energy and foreign policy, that is - to distance ourselves from the Mid East. Destabilize OPEC and watch the fundamentalist scratch and claw and THEIR own!
Can you say Western Union?
Census: U.S. Arab Population Is Surging
Hmmmm. That'd be a tough hat trick. The House of Saud, in order to war down the Wahhabists, would have to become mean enough to resist any attempts to displace them. Likewise, the Wahhabists would be tough to deal with if Osama became the new Guardian of the Shrines -- the rest of Islam would tend to unite behind him, he'd use the shrines as validating talismans.
But I wouldn't at all be displeased, and would see it as a maximal outcome, to see His Hashemite Majesty, King Abdullah of Jordan, installed as the Guardian of the Shrines on the ruins of the House of Saud and the corpses of Al-Q'aeda and the Ba'ath Party of Syria.
Then you'd have a going concern.
BTW, Abdullah was buds with Siddig El-Fadil (Alexander Siddig) of Deep Space Nine and did a couple of walk-ons back when he was a younger crown prince. Saw him briefly a few weeks ago on a rerun of Voyager, in a corridor scene with Garrett Wang.
He's also a Sandhurst product, highly educated and tough as nails. Queen Noor is his aunt or stepmother, however they figure things like that in polygynous Moslem families.
We would have to do some sort of subcontinental, multilateral deal that would remove both Indian and Pak nuclear weapons from the board, and we'd have to give both of them security assurances. This would probably, to satisfy India's security needs given China's arsenal, involve stationing Tridents in the Indian Ocean. That would mean a forward base somewhere in the theater. Such as Diego Garcia.
Can you say Western Union? Census: U.S. Arab Population Is Surging
I'd point out that the article you linked to was regarding the growing Arab population in the U.S.. But only 23% of those Arabs are muslims. A significant portion are Christians escaping from muslim persecution in the Mid East.
Exactly my point. There is no nuking M&M in a vacuum. That won't be the end of it...and with the Dims wanting to allow every unknown alien across our boards, North and South, and give them valid ID's, there is very little to stop terrorism in the U.S. It's amazing we haven't already had more attacks.
It doesn't take huge skill to make a basic bomb and suicide it somewhere.
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