[Cincinna]

Al Quaida has struck again! A blow against Freedom, this time hitting the world of sports.

For the past thirty years, the Paris-Dakar race has been one of the highlights of the year in sports in France, and the French speaking world.

Designed to showcase the Continent of Africa, for better and for worse, it has now been cancelled, propbably for good.

The emergence and persistance of Al Quaida and Islamo-Fascism in Africa is an ever-present threat to the West.

I believe Sarko was right to ask that the race be cancelled. The recent murder of four French tourists by Al Quiada terrorists in Mauritania, which the Paris-Dakar race crosses, has made the race far too dangerous to risk the lives of so many people.

There is talk of retooling the race, and rescheduling, transferring it to South America.

[goose]

:( The Dakar Rally, and the Barrett-Jackson auction are the 2 events that I look forward to every year.

[bajabaja]

The race actually starts in Lisbon, but the headline calls it the Paris-Dakar race. I’d rather start from Paris were I a driver. Apparently fun is not allowed under the koran. That and high speed vehicles.

[river rat]

Sooner or later, the civilized folks of the world will have to declare ALL militant Islamic Groups as terrorists against mankind - and declare them pests to be eradicated..

A standing bounty - dead or alive - will go a long way toward riding the planet of these worthless depraved 7th century miscreants...

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Re-tool to armored/armed vehicles and start again next year. Bonus points for every terrorist killed.

[SouthTexas]

Move it to Texas.

[JerseyHighlander]

Horrible to hear, I usually adjust my sleep schedule just to get the daily update shows of this rally.

This was talked about last year, the US military has been preparing for the rise of Al Qaeda in the Sahel for 4 years now,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintlock_2005

Here is a pretty complete summary of the history of the problem over the last 2 decades, albeit written in French and somewhat sympathetic to local rebels:
http://www.conscienceresistance.org/memorandum_opposition_compl.htm

The Al Qaeda linked groups have almost free reign in Northwest Mauritania, and the rally has no way to move through the Sahel without crossing that area.

Always keep in mind that the localized strife in Mauritania existed before 9/11, but it was localized, and travellers were given safe passage as is customary in the region.

[BluH2o]

Landed in Dakar for refueling on a Johannesburg to Washington, DC flight on South African Airways. Middle of the night, but I can assure you Dakar looks very bleak.

[tubebender]

Bad News Ping...

[Fred Nerks]

Desert storms create climate havoc. LINK.

A driver in the Paris-Dakar rally speeds through the Sahara where the desert landscape is threatened by four-wheel-drive traffic.

Dust storms in the Sahara have increased tenfold in 50 years, contributing to climate change as well as threatening human health and destroying coral reefs thousands of kilometres away. One major cause is the replacement of the camel by four-wheel-drive vehicles as the desert vehicle of choice. Andrew Goudie, professor of geography at Oxford University, blames the process of Toyotarisation - a coinage reflecting the near-ubiquitous desert use of Toyota LandCruisers - for destroying a thin crust of lichen and stones that has protected the Sahara from wind for centuries...etc etc...

(There's islamic terrorism and then there's Global-Warming type terrorism.)

[SFC Chromey]

First time since ‘79 that “Paris-Dakar” isn’t running. This is the most grueling race ever. A real test of man, machine, and support staff.

[WestCoastGal]

January 6, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

A week ago, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to tracking Robby Gordon’s adventures as he made his way through the desert of Africa’s west coast during the 30th annual Dakar Rally.

Sadly, I have nothing to report. Not because Robby was in an accident. It was because he didn’t start.

None of the competitors did.

Friday, just hours before the race was supposed to kick off it’s first leg in Lisbon, Portugal, members of the Rally’s governing body, the A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organization), sent word out to the teams that they would not be racing this year.

The decision to call off the Rally was due to those direct security threats made by Al Qaeda to attack the race at some point during its two week run. Eight of the stages or the Rally had been set to take place in Mauritania. Pointing to the December 24th murder of four French tourists in Mauritania, the French Government strongly recommended that the ASO not proceed with the race.

The men and women who run the Dakar Rally are competitors down to their bones. The Rally is not easy, and is not undertaken lightly. It takes months of preparation, and lots of money, all to go out and race in the sand and sandstorms, and sleep in tents for two weeks.

People like Robby Gordon thrive on such an adventure, and when it is called off, they are understandably disappointed. “It’s a way of life for 6 months preparing for the Rally. To have it just cancelled is frustrating.” Robby said as he and his teammate, Ronn Bailey, stood in front of their Hummer H3 race trucks Friday.

“Why not just run a few specials here (in Portugal), and at least have the race,” said Gordon. “Then say OK, we can’t work it out, then cancel it then? But to cancel it before it even starts, that is difficult. I know my team spent millions of dollars and I can only imagine what the other teams have spent. I can understand the safety of human life and the spirit of the competitors and all that. Obviously Portugal has no problems with us, and we don’t have any problem here in Lisbon. Why not race two days going out and two days coming back, and then go that way and race two days going out and two days coming back? There’s solutions, and to cancel it is not one of them.”

Bailey - who is the CEO of Vanguard Integrity Professionals and was taking part in the race as part of Robby’s race team— stated he had found out that there was a very real threat to the drivers if they went into Mauritania. “In the last four days, I have been monitoring (the security situation) very close, and have established contacts with the United States Consulate in Mauritania and their security officer there who gathers ground intelligence, and they have been receiving information from the French and German intelligence agencies. We’ve been seeing the threat escalate and realized that the four (French) tourists that were shot (as they picnicked along the side of the road) last Monday, I knew then it wasn’t a random act. As we saw it escalating, one of the things I did to put extra plans in place for my team, if the race did continue on into Mauritania, was I put together an evacuation plan…including a ground team...to pick us up and take us to the (American) Embassy so we could get out. We also bought bullet proof vests…it sounds like a girly thing to do, but in my line of business, planning for what might come is the right thing to do.”

We here in the States take it for granted that we can go to a race and sit down and enjoy what is going on on the track and not worry about our safety other than maybe for the drunk person behind us throwing a beer can. The idea that Robby Gordon would have to wear a bullet proof vest at any time while he is behind the wheel of a race vehicle is a bit unnerving. That he would have to do it because of an Al Qaeda threat borders on bone chilling.

The week hadn’t started off well for Robby and his team. Despite the fact that Robby marked his 39th birthday on Wednesday, not much else seems to have gone right for the man. By mid week, it seemed his biggest issue was the fact that a ship with much of the teams equipment was broken down somewhere in the Atlantic. Robby commented on the setback on his Dakar Rally fan site.

Good evening everyone,

Here’s the deal...24 hours ago when the Monster army went to the port, they then found out the boat had trouble on the Atlantic. It will not be in Germany until the 6th of January

With that said, we have gone into our cat-like instincts and like a cat, we will always land on our feet running!

We have a 6x6 support truck in Lisbon already. Ronn Bailey has offered up his T4, which was picked up tonight by the guys that are in Europe already. Tomorrow they will arrive in Lisbon.

The race Hummers are 100% ready and were dropped off at LAX today at 4pm for a 4am flight to Amsterdam. When the Hummers hit the ground in Lisbon, they are ready to pull up to the start line on January 5th. We are scheduled to go through scrutineering on the 4th at 1pm. Don’t foresee any issues from here.

Also on that airplane is another complete container of spare parts that will get us through the rally. Transmissions, hubs, cvs, axles, alternators, brakes, steering racks, power steering pumps, radiators, master cylinders, you see where I’m headed here...don’t you?

Factory Dakar teams are prepared because we have thought ahead are very prepared ourselves!

Time will tell... RG

http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/KR/010608.html