| It's kinda ridiculous to think the U.S. can secure a border in the Middle East
|
Posted on 01/04/2005 9:42:05 AM PST by Straight Vermonter
BASRA: Large numbers of Al Qaeda fighters are still crossing freely from Saudi Arabia into Southern Iraq, according to senior military officials in Basra.
Terrorists and weapons continue to flow into the country as it gears up for elections, said Colonel Jouke Spolestra, in charge of security sector reform in the southern Iraqi provinces.
Col Spolestra, of the Royal Netherlands Navy, said that despite regular military patrols and raids on suspected insurgent strongholds, British-led forces had failed to halt the trafficking in personnel and arms.
"People are coming in from Saudi Arabia, that is one cause of concern for us. There is a flow of weapons, illegal immigrants and of course even Al Qaeda. We do have patrols, but it is an open border," he said.
The Dutch officer, serving alongside British forces as part of the multinational division, said ancient desert trails and newer tunnels enabled fighters to enter Iraq undetected.
He also conceded there was little accurate intelligence on the numbers of militants making the trip.
He insisted newly trained Iraqi border police and European military contingents were capturing fighters - but admitted only a tiny fraction were actually caught. "Quite often there are arrests being made," he said.
"We pick up all kinds of people, maybe terrorists, foreign fighters, people coming from Yemen or Saudi Arabia. Also weapons smugglers.
"The whole spectrum of smugglers of terrorists are being caught, but it is probably only a small percentage.
Saudi Arabia shares a 300km border with Southern Iraq, mainly inhospitable desert conditions.
This length and harsh environment means military chiefs have given up trying to police the actual border-line, concentrating instead on main transit routes.
Make'um eat oil. You are either with us or against us.
Shoot first, ask questions later...
Hmmm....sounds vaguely familiar.
The Hotel California, you can check in but you can never check out.
Hmm...I thought our efforts in Iraq had nothing to do with fighting terrorists, or al Qaeda in particular.
I have been hearing a good deal as to how the Brits, with their long experience with wogs and fuzzy-wuzzies, have been maintaining their safety by simply ignoring all the islamist activity in their sector.
You make your money selling oil, the less oil in the World the higher the price. You can destabalize that large oil producer to the North and prevent their oil from coming on the market. If you was the King of Saudi Arabra would you want a successful Iraq?
It doesn't and it's all Bush's fault!
It's kinda ridiculous to think the U.S. can secure a border in the Middle East when we won't even do it here.
Sounds like a plan to me. The allies should funnel terrorists into one area and kill them when they get there. The more we kill with the best trained Army in the world, the less we'll have to deal with in America with an untrained citizenry.
They'll never get the southern boarder of Iraq with Saudi secured. There is absolutely NOTHING out there (which describes Saudi Arabia in general).
Saudi? What a surprise...
Neat way to keep oil prices up.
Probably the Saudi connection explains the reticence of our govt. in explaining where the foreign fighters are coming from. I don't think the Ba'athists have an interest in killing themselves, though their networks are still strong and maybe organizing the bombings.
| It's kinda ridiculous to think the U.S. can secure a border in the Middle East
|
I thought you could check out any time you like, but you could never leave.
Any place where Allah Is in charge in suspect and unreliable as a an ally.
But wait!!Is'nt the US planning to sell the PAC-3 ATBM to Saudi Arabia & also upgrade it's E-3s & M1A1s??
I read all that on FR.
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Why do we want to? We want these guys coming to Iraq. That's where we have our military, waiting to greet them and send them on their way to their heavenly rewards. Never mind Iraq, let's drain the whole swamp while we have the armaments there to do it with. Better we meet them there than on the streets of our cities.