Posted on 06/22/2004 9:27:58 AM PDT by TexKat
Following last week's beheading of Paul Johnson, the US hostage held in Saudi Arabia, the authorities in Riyadh promised to tighten security to deal with the mounting terrorist threat. Shortly afterwards, al-Qaeda's local leader Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin was shot dead by Saudi security forces – an apparent sign of success for the government's campaign against Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
But al-Qaeda was quick to respond, announcing on Monday – via a Saudi-owner newspaper based in London – that 38-year-old Saudi nation Saleh Mohammad al-Oufi has been appointed to take over the local leadership of the group in Saudi Arabia.
In this interview with Radio Netherlands, Paul Rogers, an expert on terrorism at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, begins by commenting on the speed of the designation of a successor to Mr al-Muqrin, and the fact that al-Qaeda has also sought to make it public immediately:
"It certainly is. It's a bit of a surprise that they should announce it so quickly. It's quite probable that within this rather loose al-Qaeda organisation they would be able to replace somebody quite quickly, but it's quite significant that want to announce this publicly. And I think it's to indicate that, although they suffered a setback with the death of Mr al-Muqrin last week, they believe that they still have very, very powerful and very effective forces in Saudi Arabia, and this is a way of demonstrating that."
RN: "What do we know about this man, Saleh al-Oufi, who's going to be the replacement?"
Video footage of the three men killed by Saudi security forces at the weekend, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin is pictured in the middle
"He is, obviously, a Saudi national. He has experience in the Saudi security forces; he was a prison officer at one time. He's certainly travelled widely, he's fought probably in Afghanistan, where he's been trained, and just possibly in Chechnya as well. Perhaps crucially, he knows the al-Qaeda system and network within Saudi Arabia very strongly. He's rather younger than the person he replaces, and some analysts believe he would actually be more effective that his predecessor, Mr al-Muqrin."
RN: "The fact that this replacement has been put in there so quickly, and also that some people believe that the threat from him may be more potent; this seems to suggest that the Saudi authorities are not getting to grips with the terror threat in their country, is that so?"
"Certainly the paramilitaries have had some difficulty in targeting central, key Saudi targets. But they've had much greater success against ex-patriots and oil-related interests. One has to remember that Saudi Arabia in many ways is a key location, almost target, for the wider al-Qaeda movement. It does see the House of Saud as the illegitimate keeper of the two holy places, and wants it replaced. So it's really much more central to al-Qaeda than people tend to remember, and I think this is one of the reasons why they've replaced this lost leader so quickly, and how they, in fact, in some ways are still quite confident of what they can achieve."
RN: "There have been some suggestions, some reports, of collusion between militants in Saudi Arabia and the security forces. Can you see any evidence for that?"
"Well, there is some evidence for that; the very fact that Saleh al-Oufi himself has had some connections with the security forces is quite a powerful indicator of that. The Saudis do deny it very strongly, but there have been a number of incidents when it at least appears that […] inside information has been available to the paramilitaries."
With a little luck we'll handle this like Israel has been handleing Hamas leadership.
Kill him. Then kill his replacement. Then kill his replacement. Make being the local al quaida leader an immediate death sentence.
Sooner or later, no one will accept the job.
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rawhide!
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them dogies rollin'
Rawhide!
Rain and wind and weather
Hell-bent for leather
Wishin' my gal was by my side.
All the things I'm missin',
Good vittles, love, and kissin',
Are waiting at the end of my ride
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Rawhide
Count 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, count 'em out,
Count 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide!
Keep movin', movin', movin'
Though they're disapprovin'
Keep them dogies movin'
Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em
Just rope, throw, and brand 'em
Soon we'll be living high and wide.
My hearts calculatin'
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.
Rawhide!
Rawhide!
ROFLMCO...in other words, do NOT print business cards!
The do seem to be slow learners, don't they?
HIS REAL NAME IS TED KENNEDY
Why don't these folks just off themselves, it would save so much time.
It will never end. When anyone believes strongly in their religion they will do alot of things in the name of God or Allah. The people that do the terroist acts are usually low on the totem pole. They are the sheep and you have alot of cheep in any congregation. Only way to win is to destroy the religion.
Tower...new targets aquired..over. Waiting for instructions.. over.
"It certainly is. It's a bit of a surprise that they should announce it so quickly. It's quite probable that within this rather loose al-Qaeda organisation they would be able to replace somebody quite quickly, but it's quite significant that want to announce this publicly.
OoooH. They announced a successor "quite quickly", or even better yet, "so quickly" and it's "quite significant" that they've done this and they said it so "publicly".
Ooooh, it makes one flush with "surprise", I think I'm going faint like a school girl.<'/lisp'>
This so-called expert on terrorism is certainly an expert at being a drama queen.
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