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"...even the wicked get worse than they deserve." - Willa Cather, One of Ours

Sunday, May 30, 2004

Saudi hostage crisis comes to a bloody end

Al-Jazeera
Saudi forces have ended their offensive in a hostage crisis that has left at least 22 people dead.
The assailants in the eastern oil city of Khobar killed some hostages after Saudi commandos stormed a building on Sunday to rescue about 50 people being held, said security sources. The source did not identify the hostages' nationalities or how many were killed. The body of a dead hostage was reportedly dragged through the streets...

[...]

A purported al-Qaida statement said its followers had "slaughtered" a Japanese, a Swede and an Italian hostage. The statement, carried on an Arabic-language website, vowed to rid the peninsula of "infidels"...

The hostage-takers were reported to have killed 16 people, nine Saudis and seven foreigners, on Saturday before fleeing to the vast Oasis complex. The unprecedented hostage-taking in the world's biggest crude oil exporting country raised the stakes in the kingdom's year-long fight against anti-government fighters.

The Muslim Brotherhood condemned the violence, saying it was a crime against the country and the people. In a statement received by Aljazeera, the movement said such incidents were part "of the US-Zionist project targeting Islam and trying to link it with terrorism and violence".

The assailants' suspected leader was arrested along with two other attackers, said security sources. Two hostage takers were also killed in the raid. The crisis ended about 25 hours after it began on Saturday with attackers opening fire and engaging in shootouts with Saudi security forces at the compound and two oil-related facilities.

Earlier, Saudi commandos raided the compound. Witnesses saw three military helicopters dropping special forces on to the roof of a building in the compound amid gunfire. An earlier attempt to storm the building was aborted when Saudi forces discovered it was booby-trapped with explosives.

Saudis were shaken to the core on Sunday. "This makes you so depressed. This is something alien to Saudis. We are stunned and very upset," said Said al-Mansur, a 22-year-old student. Many Khobar residents, who for years blended easily with expatriate oil workers, said they feared the attack would force expatriates to pack up and go.
Since the bombings in Riyadh of last November, the Saudis have been much more serious about cracking down on Al-Qaida. At least compared to before this bombing when Saudi officials tried to pretend, and claimed, that the Al-Qaida organization didn't exist. As noted above, the majority of Saudis believe to this day that Al-Qaida is a CIA/Zionist conspiracy created to defame the Arab people and destabilize the Saudi regime.

Previous terrorist killings of westerners in Saudi Arabia were blamed on alcohol or "booze" smugglers. In fact, the Saudi police arrested, tried and convicted several innocent westerners living in Saudi Arabia, in a vain attempt to divert attention away from Al-Qaida activities in the country. When the obvious truth became public a few months ago, the innocent westerners where released from prison.

At least now Saudi security forces have been willing to actually arrest explicitly violent Al-Qaida operatives. Although it should be noted that on several occasions suspected Al-Qaida safe-houses have been "surrounded" by the police and the occupants have mysteriously "escaped". This performance, whether it is due to incompetence or treachery, is indicative of how the Saudi government has been addressing this security problem.

The central problem is that while the Saudi government appears to be willing to arrest activists who have already committed explicit acts, the support organizations for these terrorists is still untouched. So far the government has been unwilling to act against members who are willing to publicly support the Islamic fascist movement but have not been directly involved in "pulling the trigger". This has proven to be an extremely ineffective policy for fighting these terrorists.

It is possible that the now realistic fear that those westerners who are essential to the Saudi economy will leave, will force the Saudi security apparatus to face up to the challenge that it faces. I won't hold my breath.

I suspect that the Saudi regime's political ideology (which strongly supports the international Islamic fascist movement) will contribute the inevitable destruction of Saudi government. It is now only a matter of time.
Posted by: Zayphar / 5/30/2004 09:50:00 AM
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