May 02, 2004

Two Britons die, 19 hurt, in Saudi terrorist attack

Two Britons and at least four other people, among them two Americans, were shot dead by terrorists in Saudi Arabia yesterday in an attack that left up to 19 people injured.

Gunmen opened fire on the office of an oil contractor in the Saudi coastal city of Yanbu with AK47 and M16 assault rifles
[OK...how they'd get ahold of M16s?--Jen]
killing the Britons and also fatally shooting at least two Americans and an Australian.

The terrorists are said to have attached the bodies of the Americans to the rear of a vehicle and dragged them through the streets before being cornered by police.
[Looks like Falluja set a new low for the terrorists' behavior and their abuse of our dead...wonderful.--J.T.]

During the subsequent gun battle, three terrorists were killed and another captured. One report described them as teenagers. At least one of the dead was reported to have been wired with explosives, which he had failed to detonate.
[...]
Yesterday's incident began just before 7am in the industrial district of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast about 550 miles west of the capital. Witnesses said the terrorists first tried to storm an oil plant, but were unable to gain access.

Dressed as coastguards and driving three four-wheel-drive vehicles, they then made their way to the Royal Commission district of the city and attacked the offices of oil contractors ABB Lummus Global, spraying the occupants with machinegun fire.

Some of the bodies were pulled out and the dead Americans were attached to the back of one vehicle and dragged around for up to an hour. A branch of McDonald's was also said to have been hit with gunfire during the drive.
[You know this Mickey D's; it's the one that doesn't serve Jews or have bacon on the menu.--J.T.]
[...]
Saudi security forces have stepped up their hunt for Islamic militants, resulting in frequent deadly clashes in recent months.

Last month the United States ordered all non-essential US government employees and family members to leave Saudi Arabia and also urged private citizens to get out. Shortly before that evacuation order, the US embassy issued a warning of "credible indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and western interests in Saudi Arabia".

All Westerners really should leave Saudi Arabia and not just for their own safety and you wanna know why?
Because the Sauds can't get the oil out of the ground without our help, that's why.
No matter how much or how little they charge for a barrel of oil, they won't sell any if it can't be pumped out of the ground and refined.
This situation exists because the Sauds were too lazy and corrupt to learn how and make sure that there was education and training in their country to create a native pool of workers.
The Saudis think they're "above" such "dirty, manual" labor like that.
They'd rather all young men went to madrassas, learned the Koran and become radical clerics to produce their true biggest export: Waahab jihadi terror war.
The only good development in Arabia has been the official recognition that these acts of murder are being committed by Saudi natives, either linked with or in sympathy with Al Queda.
In years past (but not long past), the Sauds would have blamed the same British, American and Australian workers who got shot at for staging these attacks as part of the "expat illegal liquor trade," tortured and jailed for years and then made to "confess" on Saudi TV.
Any way you look at it, Western workers in Arabia have a bad deal, in spite of the fact that the work pays very, very well.
It's way past time for us to "take our toys and go home" there, don't you agree?
Proceeds from Saudi oil sales are only going to fund worldwide jihad anyway, so why should we help them pay to kill us?

Update: Well, maybe the Sauds haven't gotten rid of all their old ways...Seems that Crown Prince Abdullah is blaming "Zionists,"
although he's not saying how they'd get into SA or why they would even want to!