Posted on 06/23/2004 10:36:08 AM PDT by thinkahead
Opposition: Saudi security knew Johnson's location
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Saudi opposition sources said Saudi security commanders knew of the location of Al Qaida chief Abul Aziz Al Muqrin at least three days before he executed a U.S. hostage.
The Washington-based Saudi Institute said Saudi authorities knew of the whereabouts of the Al Qaida cell that abducted and threatened to kill Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson. But the institute said the Saudi government decided not to move until Johnson, captured on June 12, was executed.
"The Saudi government knew the location of a number of the terrorists but waited until they killed American hostage Paul Johnson before moving against them," the Saudi Institute said in a statement on Tuesday.
The institute has been regarded as a liberal opposition group that relayed accurate information on Saudi Arabia and its security system, Middle East Newsline reported. The institute was said to have sources in Saudi security agencies and government.
About 15,000 Saudi troops and police searched neighborhoods in Riyad for two days before Johnson was beheaded by Al Qaida insurgents last weekend. On June 18, hours after Al Qaida's announcement that Johnson was executed, Al Muqrin and three of his leading aides were surrounded by Saudi forces and helicopters and killed in a shootout in Riyad.
The institute cited both open-source and exclusive information for its conclusion that Saudi security forces were ordered to wait until Johnson was executed. The opposition group cited the wife of slain Saudi police officer, Mohamed Ali Al Qahtani, as saying her husband knew of what she termed an "important operation" to kill Al Muqrin and his aides two days before the attack. Al Qahtani was killed in the shootout with Al Qaida.
"A Saudi security source has also told the Saudi Institute that the government knew about the whereabouts of many of the terrorists days before they were eventually killed," the institute said. "A statement by Crown Prince Abdullah three days before the shootout similarly suggested that he knew they would be killed, and was just a matter of when." On June 14, Abdullah told a Saudi delegation, "You will see good news very soon," the official Saudi Press Agency reported. A U.S. official said he could not confirm the report by the Saudi opposition group. But the official said U.S. intelligence has concluded that most of the Saudi security forces, including the National Guard, has been infiltrated by Al Qaida. He said members of the FBI and State Department team sent to Riyad to help in the search for Johnson expressed concern that Saudi security forces were avoiding suspected Al Qaida hideouts in Riyad. The institute said it was told by a Saudi security source both before and after the Al Qaida shootout that the government knew the "whereabouts of Al Muqrin and his associates, but chose not to arrest or shoot them." "They would rather have the terrorists free to justify the widening security clampdown," the security source said. On May 30, Saudi security forces were ordered to allow an Al Qaida cell to escape the Oasis compound outside Khobar after Islamic insurgents had executed 22 foreigners in the two-day hostage ordeal. Saudi officials later said the government agreed to an Al Qaida demand to allow its members to escape rather than blow up the foreign housing compound. Western governments with a significant presence in Saudi Arabia have been discussing the deployment of special forces to protect their embassies and consulates. On Wednesday, the London-based Telegraph reported that Britain has sent the SAS special force to Saudi Arabia to guard official British facilities and help in any emergency evacuation of the 20,000 Britons who work in the kingdom.
You know, it's pretty amazing, about a thousand FReepers with no connections to Saudi Arabia also figured out that this was the case.
Either we're on to something, or someone has been firing up the Infinite Improbability Drive.
9/12/01 was high time in my opinion.
It's about time this gets some kind of press. A little is better than none. Time to cut off the oil money, and let them implode.
Hm...
BTT in total agreement...
Saudi Crown Prince offers terrorists amnesty
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jun. 23 (UPI) -- Crown Prince Abdullah offered Saudi terrorists full amnesty if they surrender in the next 30 days.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1158637/posts
I think it's time to dust off the Pentagon's plans to secure the Saudi oil fields.
Monday, June 21, 2004
The United States has sent a tough message to Saudi Arabia that did not rule out abandoning the kingdom's oil sector.
U.S. officials said the Bush administration has warned that Americans would not stay in Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom takes significant steps to protect them. The officials said the warning came in wake of the Al Qaida beheading of Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson on June 18.
Fewer than 30,000 Americans live in Saudi Arabia, with many of them working in the defense and oil sectors. More than 5,000 Americans were said to have left the kingdom over the last year and many more were said to planning to leave for the summer. "It could have an effect [on the Saudi oil industry]," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "Saudi authorities, as commendable as their overall effort is, have not yet been able to stop the terrorists to the point that everybody doesn't have to worry anymore." U.S. officials said despite its assurances, the Saudi government has not carried out a comprehensive upgrade in efforts to protect U.S. nationals in the kingdom. They said many Saudi-owned companies have failed to take significant steps to protect their facilities and Americans from Al Qaida attacks. On June 20, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Richard Lugar issued the most specific warning to Riyad. Lugar, a Republican close to Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that unless Saudi Arabia provides better protection to Americans "they're in deep trouble with regard to the oil business." FBI and State Department counterterrorism experts have been in Saudi Arabia helping authorities track Al Qaida insurgents. The U.S. team was said to have been instrumental in the operation that tracked and killed Al Qaida chief Abdul Aziz Al Muqrin and three of his aides on June 18.
It might be time to consider the agenda of those who would have us destabilize Saudi Arabia and allow the OLB faction to take over.
Kibuki theatre, Riyadh style.
True, but it is pretty destablalized already. I say open ANWAR, and let the Saudis drive Mercedes with no Oil Revenues. They may not be so cock-sure then...
We have oil reserves off our own coasts, and in ANWR. We must be seen to be willing to drill for our own oil or there will be no effort to tame the terrorists.
Not over by a long shot.
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