May 31, 2004

Saudis stunned by Khobar killings of foreigners

Saudis were shaken to the core on Sunday after Muslim militants killed 16 people and held some 50 foreigners hostage in Khobar, a modern oil city traditionally tolerant of expatriates.

First off, notice that this al-Reuters piece was written by an Arab...then, notice the condescending tone.
Saudis were "shaken to the core?" Guess they forgot about that bombing of the Marine complex in 1996.
And "traditionally tolerant of expats?"
Isn't that nice of them?
How about desperately dependent on expats?
Does that work for you, Samia?
Because SA couldn't pump or sell any oil at all without these expats. Period.
Tolerating them because they're Christian, Western and "decadent" by Waahab standards is the least the Soddies can do!

"This makes you so depressed. This is something alien to Saudi. We are stunned and very upset," Saeed al-Mansour, a 22-year-old student, said.

Gee, that's curious, too, Saeed, given the fact that second only to crude, Waahab-based Islamist terrorism is SA's biggest export!
It's only "alien" because the Sods thought they could send IslamoFascism all over the world without having any at home!
Looks like they were very wrong about that.

Many Khobar residents, who for years blended easily with expatriate oil workers, said they feared Saturday's attack, in which nine Saudis and seven foreigners were killed, would drive expatriates to pack up and go.
[Uh, don't look now, but I think that's exactly what Al Queda wants them to do..and who could blame them for leaving?--Jen]
Tens of thousands of Western workers are vital to a country which is the world's biggest oil exporter and a key U.S. ally.

[Don't know about that either, Samia.
Prince Abdullah hasn't been to Crawford in quite a while.--J.T.]

Residents had watched apprehensively from rooftops as Saudi commandos stormed the building where the militants were holding foreign hostages, mainly Westerners, a day after they sprayed gunfire at oil firms and housing compounds.
[Interesting. This started the day before the attack...Who knew, except the Saudi domestic security?--Jen]
Security officials said most of the hostages were rescued
[Not quite: There were those 9 poor Western men whose throats they slit and 25 dead hostages in all. RIP.--Jen]
and that the leader of the group and other gunmen were arrested.

"They (militants) are barbarians who have no mercy," said Mohammed al-Katry, 29. "They want to wreak havoc and destroy everything that is good. They crave death and know they are going to die so they want to kill as many people as possible."

The hostage-taking is a dramatic and unprecedented twist in the kingdom's year-long battle
[I think the reporter means the "Kingdom's" battle on the opposite side of OBL and AQ.--Jen]
against followers of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda group.
The U.S.-led war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have fuelled anti-Western sentiment among many Saudis in the Gulf state which follows an austere brand of Islam.

This really is the limit for even al-Reuters to claim that the WOT and the Paleostinian problem are what "caused" the emergence of Al Queda and "anti-Western sentiment" when just the opposite is true:
The War on Terror, OBL and AQ, the "Palestinian" effort to destroy Israel, which has been ongoing for almost 60 years, and all Jews (which has been ongoing for 1300 years) and 9/11 itself are the product of Saudi-supported Waahab IslamoNazism!

Nobody accepts these acts. This is revolting," added student Ashraf Abdallah. "These militants are outcasts and they don't represent our religion and our morals. We are frightened for our country."

Whether Saudis like Ashraf like to admit or not, "militants" like the ones who slaughtered expats on Sunday, Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers do represent their religion.

Khobar streets were sealed off and the luxury Oasis housing complex resembled a war zone. Tranquillity was shattered on Saturday after militants sprayed gunfire at Western oil firms and compounds in the second attack on vital economic sites.
Some Saudi nationals and newspapers criticised security forces for failing to protect residents after a year-long battle with al Qaeda-linked militants since a string of suicide bombings in Riyadh last year killed 50 people.

"The government must put a stop to this before terrorists drown us in this country," journalist Abdulaziz said in Riyadh.
"This is more evidence that religious institutions should not cross the line and should leave God's creatures to act as they want," he said, referring to the strict religious establishment blamed in the West for fostering militancy.

"We must find out...why we did not prepare against such attacks after citizens and residents became a target of these terrorists," leading local daily al-Watan said in an editorial. (Additional reporting by Fahd al-Frayyan in Riyadh)

I wonder how much the democratization of Iraq, next door to SA, is affecting the citizens of SA...from some of these "on the street" reactions, the Arab version of Liberty seems to be looking pretty good.
SA is in for some tough times and attacks like today's are probably only the beginning.
The Sod "Royal Family" is both the source of Waahab terrorism and its real target.
This attack on expats is only the warmup to AQ's goal to bring down the House of Sod itself, which they correctly deem to be "decadent and corrupt."
SA can't exist without the expats running the oil fields and yet they openly despise our Western lifestyles and make no secret of that, even to their "guests."
There are no Christian churches in SA, no respect for Judaism or Jews there except as the "enemy" to be crushed globally and when we had thousands of soldiers stationed there to keep Saddam contained, our lady GIs were jailed for not wearing Islamic coverings instead of their uniforms.
During the terrorists' siege on Sunday, the Sod "militants" showed their "tolerance" for Western values by dragging around the corpse of 62-year-old British oil exec Michael Hamilton, a married father-of-two, whom a colleague said "got on so well with the Saudis themselves. Nothing was too much trouble."
(Apparently, treating his body with respect and dignity after they'd murdered him was too much trouble for Al Queda. Tragic--God rest him.)

In memoriam: Michael Hamilton
The Sods need the money from selling their crude, not only to fund their own lavish lifestyles, but to fund more Waahab terrorism (all those imams, mosques, copies of the Koran that preach jihad and madrassas overseas), while nowadays, their native sons have taken all that ubiquitous Waahab preaching to the next logical step and joined radical Islamic "militia" groups like AQ who now wage jihad at home and thus the snake chases its tail in a vicious, deadly circle.
The "royal" Sods also have additional problems:
the "crown princes" are divided amongst themselves as to supporting or opposing the West, they are quite elderly and there will be an internal struggle in the palace for succession soon, and even given current elevated oil prices, the "princes" don't make as much money as they used to and have to split it increasingly more ways.
And there was bad news for them from the West even before this weekend:
Citibank announced that it was not going to be doing business in SA anymore, ending a 50-year-old relationship.
Yet, in their arrogance and stubbornness, the Sauds turned down President Bush's invitation to attend the G8 economic summit next week in Georgia where his "Greater Middle East Initiative," which centers on desperately needed reform in the Arab world, will be announced.
So, don't touch that dial!
...there will be more.
If most, or all, of the expat oil workers leave SA for their own safety, the Soddy royals will be forced to do something concrete and lasting about domestic IslamoFascism to get Westerners to come back.
They have to--they literally don't know how to do it and have never learned.
I'm beginning to think that the House of Saud is pretty short on intelligence, wisdom and foresightedness and too long on greed, envy and hatred.
Incoming Al Queda killer chickens returning to the Waahab henhouse!