November 9, 2003

APPEASEMENT ISN'T WORKING:

Gulf on terror alert as blast hits Riyadh: Smoke seen rising near expatriate compound in Saudi Arabian capital (Martin Bright, November 9, 2003, The Observer)

An explosion rocked the Saudi capital Riyadh late last night. Smoke could be seen rising from an area in the western part of the city, and there were reports that it was at a residential compound housing foreigners.

The blast came a day after the United States warned of the likelihood of terrorist attacks and shut its missions in Saudi Arabia. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also warned Britons not to travel to the country except on essential business. British nationals in the Gulf state of Bahrain were also warned of a 'high threat' of terrorist attack.

The extent of the damage in Riyadh was not immediately clear, and it was not known if there were any casualties. [...]

In an interview with a London-based Saudi newspaper, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said the Saudi authorities should be more active in rooting out terrorists, especially in pursuing their funding sources. US intelligence officials said Islamic terrorists could be planning to seize cargo planes and fly them at sensitive American targets.


Nice of al Qaeda to give the Sa'uds more incentive to co-operate with us.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 9, 2003 12:03 AM
Comments

Yeah, but I'd caution against early optimism. The question is how the Saudi people interpret this attack. The terrorists obviously are trying to deliver a message that "we're only doing this becuase of U.S. involvement in the Middle East." By a sort of twisted logic, which might well succeed, they want people to believe that the Americans are ultimately responsible for this horror.

Posted by: R.W. at November 9, 2003 12:20 AM

US intelligence was able to issue warnings and shut down the US diplomatic areas. It looks like the jihadis went to Plan B and attacked a foreign worker compound.

Most of the victims were Lebanese guest workers.. fellow Arabs.

Posted by: Gideon at November 9, 2003 1:46 AM

If only American troop would leave Saudi Arabian soil....

If only Israel would leave the occupied territories...

Posted by: Barry Meislin at November 9, 2003 1:50 AM

If only the Bush administration would publicly end US support for the House of Saud...

Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 9, 2003 2:43 AM

Not, of course, that this is the time to do so.
Perhaps '06-ish.

Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 9, 2003 2:44 AM

. . . with the invasion of the Arabian peninsula to destroy the House of Saud ("Operation Desert Vengeance") scheduled for January '07.

(You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one . . . .)

Posted by: Mike Morley at November 9, 2003 7:56 AM

Michael - Haven't we ended support for the House of Saud? Our troops are gone and we have no formal relationship with them. Why not encourage them to work with us, as both of us have an incentive to defeat al Qaeda?

Posted by: pj at November 9, 2003 9:16 AM

I agree that we should work together.
It seems to me that our foreign policy is still backing the House of Saud, and that the US would provide aid, if not troops, if there were any kind of uprising against them.

After all, we didn't have troops in Arabia before '90, either, but it was understood that the Saudis were our guys.

Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 9, 2003 7:00 PM
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