This looks pretty bad. Co-ordinated attack on three housing complexes in Saudi. They’re saying A-Q, right now. Calling it the third largest since 1991. And it looks like they got away after, too.
If it’s not A-Q, who could it be?
This has been going on in the pit all day. Col’s OK, but Testy was there when it happened.
I made an ass of myself last night in a pit thread about this if you want to know more. Yeah, they got away. The betting is that they were the same bunch that got in a gun-fight with the cops last week. There are around 15 or 20 of these guys active with God knows how many supporters and reserves. The body count is 10 right now but judging by the damage I’ve seen personally there are going to be a lot more. They actually got 4 different compounds. For some reason I haven’t seen anything about the Vinnel compound on the news and it was hit hard. They got inside with the truck before detonating it and destroyed a housing block.
All the best.
Testy
I don’t live in Saudi Arabia, thank god. However I direct you to
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=183571&pagenumber=3
– a thread by Testy who lives in one of the compounds, and in particular the comments at the end of the thread.
I regret of course Testy’s lashing out, but again, the end of the thread contains some information.
Regardless, tensions have not disappeared, as the wonderful Warden messages remind me on a weekly basis, and that segment of the “Street” prone to this is rather jazzed up.
Give yourself some space mate, you didn’t call for drinking blood after all.
So who’s the real target here? I’m not getting that. Are they simply disturbing the shit to embarass the Whorehouse of Saud? Trying to scare foreigners out of the country? Usually terrorists have some agenda, however warped.
The Ibn Saud via the supporting infrastructure. The agenda makes perfect sense if you know the dynamics. The people behind al-Qaeda are not crazy, nasty, evil, twisted, but they have a logic that makes sense in its own context. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating.
I’ve warned continously for the past two years, these organizations have grown up in police state conditions - it is a non-trivial matter to root out people who have the habits of a police state.
" are not crazy, nasty…but they have a logic…"
You lost me on that left turn there, Col. Should I translate that to “right rotters, but not stupid”?
Yes. It’s all well and good to sling around insults like crazy, but that leads one to underestimating them, and underestimating them is a grave error.
Of course we’ve recently done a fine job recruiting for them, so I should expect more festivities.
Well, IMHO the first thing they want to do (with these particular attacks) is get the damn infidel foreigners out of the country; that’s western civilian workers and the US military – the latter, as we know, are already going (excepting a small contingent).
This attack will discourage other western civilians from going to work in Saudi and will also, presumably, encourage those already in situ to depart or not renew their contracts.
On the leadership level of the al-Qaeda network, I presume there is a good understanding of the degree to which the Ibn Saud apparatus depends on western expertise, and on safe, non-political westerners and western companies to serve key contracts and roles.
The logic is not simply to rid the Kingdom of foreigners – nothing wrong in their mind with the subservient ones. Rather it is the foreign presence, independent and living by its own rules , which helps the Royals. Technical, high end expertise esp., not bec. rough equiv. can’t be found outside the West, but as political buffers.
An old concept, the way the Ibn Saud structure things, but its logic seems to have run out.
Clearly, you guys didn’t get the memo. The fall of Saddam bin Laden signals the beginning of an era of peace and democracy throughout the Muddle East. The lion shall lie down with the lamb, Sharon shall make kissy face with Arafat, and a grateful nation shall give blubbering thanks to the bold visionary leadership of the Bushistas.
And I will buy half-a-dozen umbrellas. You know why.
Well it only took 2 hours before someone blamed Bush. Who won the pool?
Oh? Do you imagine that our recent little military adventure has somehow been helpful? Enlighten us.
Sure but an awful lot of the imported expertise is concerned with the Royal’s pet projects, hobbies, etc. rather than projects for the national ‘good’. Not all, but a fair chunk.
Fwiw, this morning the Saud Dynasty feels oddly reminiscent of the Titanic sailing serenely in quiet waters. There’s a long way to go but …
It will also piss off a lot of testosterone poisoned Americans who hae bigger guns and bigger bombs.
Well among the many problems in the Gulf is that almost all their economies are black boxes in a way. It is often hard to tell what is productive and what is not. Not transparent environments.
mmm, the House of Saud is not liked by ordinary Saudi’s. The US like them though. Staunch allies.
Reckon that’s why they’ve pulled out.
Don’t want to rock the boat in Saudi, what if the House of Saud is overthrown?
Would be nasty. For the US, I mean.
No more cheap oil.
It’s also one of the theories as to why Bush invaded Iraq. Saddam wanted a Pan Arab state. Combining all arab nations under one banner. That’s not a world picture the Bush administration liked imagining. So they went in, in an effort to sow animosity and to make sure arab nations will not combine their forces. An Arab region that is divided suits them best.
BTW, I heard someone state that US has plenty of oil in Texas and California, but want sto use up resources outside their country, before they touch their own.
This true?
I thought the US had plenty of oil from friends in Canada and Venezuela.
elucidator: Attacks against westerners in Saudi have been going on for years. Remember the bombs in 1995 (right at the bottom) and the bombing of the US military in 1996, you know when Clinton was president? Not to mention the attacks against a US doctor on May 31 2001 (a full 4 months before 9/11) and the bomb less than a month after 9/11 that murdered 5 westerners. And don’t forget the car bomb that killed a British baker in July of 2002, what’s that, almost a full year before Bush went galavanting into Iraq?