State Department urges non-essential diplomats...

Drudge ^

[RoughDobermann]

and families of American officials to leave Saudi Arabia...

[philetus]

All non-essential diplomats?
That would be all diplomats.

[Mo1]

Looks like things are gonna get real nasty over there

[Prime Choice]

Whoa, what the hell is going on over there?

I suspect one of three things (but don't have evidence to support any).

1. King Fahd has died. His sons are less-than-competent rulers and the country could fall into chaos.
2. Al Qaeda has acquired poison gas or bio-weapons and is planning to use them on or around Christmas day against westerners in Saudi Arabia.
3. The Saudi leadership has caved in to the Jihadists. This might explain the sudden and bizarre prohibition on stuffed animal toys that was announced today.

Either way, it doesn't look good. We may need to liberate Saudi Arabia soon. (And I mean liberate...not just keep the corrupt Fahd regime propped up.)

[Dead Dog]

Dead Dog Department urges all non essential diplomats and bureaucrats to get a real job.

[angkor]

Yes, you're absolutely correct. Don't recall if Indonesia 2002 was mandatory or voluntary (I think the latter), but many left. Even that had nasty repercussions on the business climate.

It does send a difficult signal to the locals and the host gov, and foments all sorts of rumors among everyone (e.g., "Here come the Marines.")

Amb. Martin didn't evac Saigon until the very last moment.

[BurbankKarl]

Archlight, this is Almighty, radio check over. Operation HotShots, Part Tres commencing over

[reagan_fanatic]

"Probably threats of hostage taking for the release of SH."

I feared this. Should have just killed the bastard while we had the chance.

[yonif]

We should remove all our diplomats from Saudi Arabia, the terror state and remove all their "diplomats" from their embassy in Washington DC.

[angkor]

I would take issue with State being excessively cautious.

Travel warnings typically urge Americans to completely avoid visiting a country for "non-essential" reasons.

But you've illustrated my point: a travel warning against Greece (due to lax airport security) would have little bearing on beachgoers sitting in Mykonos. Nor would it account for the reality that travelers will spend only 30 minutes in any Greek airport, and the odds of having a problem might actually be quite miniscule.

When I say "excessively cautious", I mean there's a certainly lack of granularity in the warnings, and many people (myself included) think the British Foreign Office is a bit more incisive in its travel assessments (even though they also have an "essential travel" warning for Saudi right now).

[kinghorse]

maybe it dovetails into this little tidbit:

Israeli defense minister in live Farsi broadcast from Jerusalem answers questions from Iranian citizens. He assures many callers Israel would take steps to protect Iranian civilians if forced to strike at Iran’s nuclear weapons resources
Source: Debka

[boxerblues]

Includes Colin Powell too, huh?

geez the man is in the hospital recovering from surgery, cut him some slack

[BurbankKarl]

I read the Soviets sold the Iranians updated SAM sites to prevent an attack on those reactors...



>>>Israeli defense minister in live Farsi broadcast from Jerusalem answers questions from Iranian citizens. He assures many callers Israel would take steps to protect Iranian civilians if forced to strike at Iran’s nuclear weapons resources

[kabar]

I suspect one of three things (but don't have evidence to support any).

1. King Fahd has died. His sons are less-than-competent rulers and the country could fall into chaos.

2. Al Qaeda has acquired poison gas or bio-weapons and is planning to use them on or around Christmas day against westerners in Saudi Arabia.

3. The Saudi leadership has caved in to the Jihadists. This might explain the sudden and bizarre prohibition on stuffed animal toys that was announced today.

You must come from the Howard Dean school of knowledge. He had heard or dreamt up the theory that the Saudis tipped off Bush before 9/11. For the record, King Fahd has not governed the country for years. He is medically incapacitated. Crown Prince Abdullah is running things without any chaos breaking out.

Al Qaeda is a constant threat witness the recent attacks in Riyadh. We must be getting some good intelligence as was the case prior to the last attack.

The Saudi leadership is fighting for survival. The so-called Jihadists want to eliminate the royal family. The last thing they would do would be to cave into them.

Better the royal family in charge than a Khomenhi like fundamentalist government that would take its place. The two holiest places in Islam are in Saudi Arabia. Any "liberation" by the US would have momentous reverberations throuout the Islamic world.

[yonif]

U.S. Urges Citizens to Leave Saudi Arabia
16 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!


By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - Nonessential American diplomats and the families of all U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia should leave, the State (news - web sites) Department said Wednesday, stepping up its warnings about risks in the country.


Private U.S. citizens should consider leaving as well, the department said. And Americans making plans to go to Saudi Arabia were advised to defer any such travel in light of "the potential for further terrorist activities."


The departure of U.S. officials and family members was not ordered, but was voluntary. Expenses were to be paid by the U.S. government.


Americans who travel to Saudi Arabia or remain there despite the warning were told to register with the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh or the consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran so arrangements can be made to keep them up to date.


"The U.S. government continues to receive indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests," the department said. This includes the targeting of transportation, the statement said.


"American citizens in Saudi Arabia should remain vigilant, particularly in public places associated with the Western community," the department said.


No single specific threat or piece of intelligence triggered the department's action (news - web sites), said a U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Instead,the decision was based on a review of the entire terrorism picture in the kingdom.


U.S. officials say the top al-Qaida figure in Saudi Arabia is Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, also known as Abu Hazim. He took over when Yousif Salih Fahad Al-Ayeeri — "Swift Sword" — was killed in a shootout last May.


There are some 200 to 300 nonessential U.S. officials and family members in Saudi Arabia, and some 30,000 U.S. citizens in all.


Travel by American officials and their families in Riyadh is restricted already to the hours between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.


Last month, in the latest of a string of terror incidents, a housing compound in Riyadh was bombed, killing 17 people and wounding more than 100. Police arrested a Saudi citizen believed to have helped smuggle in from Yemen the weapons used in the attack, the Saudi daily Okaz reported Wednesday.


American and Saudi officials blamed that attack and suicide bombings at three other housing projects in May on Saudi exile Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida terrorist network. Thirty-five people, including nine attackers were killed in the May attacks.


Saudi officials say most of the weapons used in militant operations in Saudi Arabia — including the May suicide attacks — were smuggled from Yemen.

[BurbankKarl]

we can just add S.A. into Iraq....wouldn't that be funny.

[Trust but Verify]

While there could be something really big or unusual going on, there doesn't seem to be any difference between this advisory and others issued in the past.

[Catspaw]

Fortunately, Peach, my relative, who was in Saudi, is now in the Balkans.

[Trust but Verify]

Well, would you stop raining on the parade here? Jeez.

[Prime Choice]

You must come from the Howard Dean school of knowledge.

And you must be a graduate of the John Kerry School of Tact. Sheesh! No reason to be so nasty. I only said I suspect them; meaning I was speculating.

If I were truly a pupil of Dean, I'd be trying to pass off my speculations as fact. When you calm down, you'll see I didn't.

[ChefKeith]

Can anyone tell me why we have non-essential diplomats?

In My opinion they are ALL non-essential, even more so when it comes to the mid-east region...