April 3, 2005
THEIR FIGHT NOW:
3 Dead As Saudi Forces, Militants Clash (ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4/03/05)
Saudi security forces clashed with militants Sunday in a daylong gunbattle near a northern town known as a stronghold of Islamic fundamentalists, killing three terror suspects.Fifteen members of the security forces also were wounded in the shootout in the town of ar-Rass, 220 miles northwest of the capital Riyadh, Al-Ekhbariya television quoted the governor of al-Qassim province, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, as saying.
Ar-Rass is near Buraydah, a known stronghold of Islamic fundamentalists in the kingdom.
Al-Ekhbariya reported late Sunday that the gunbattle was still going on.
Security forces had killed "three wanted terrorists" and forced the other militants to flee their hideout to a building that is under construction, the governor said, according to the all-news satellite TV channel.
Islamic extremism is a mere annoyance to us but represents an existential threat to the Sa'uds, which is why they'll Refom Wahhabism from within. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 3, 2005 5:19 PM
"militants"? "terrorists"? why aren't they called "insurgents"?
Posted by: Palmcroft at April 3, 2005 5:43 PMWhen Saudis fight with Islamic fundamentalists, it has nothing to do with opposition to Islamic fundamentalism. It does have everything to do with a turf war, not unlike when the Genoveses kill the Luccheses, or Crips kill Bloods.
The notion that the Saudis aren't up to their burnooses in Muslim terror throughout the world and are somehow on our side is simply the product of cheesy PR firms like Hill and Knowlton and the paid stooges of the Saudis in the State Department, Congress and the MSM. It has nothing whatsoever to do with reality.
Posted by: bart at April 3, 2005 6:14 PMThe Saudis are just as dedicated to the notion of destroying the West in the name of Islam as anybody rooming in a cave in Tora Bora. It is only its stooges, paid or otherwise, who think differently. Islamic fundamentalism is no existential threat to them, so long as they get to run the show.
Posted by: bart at April 3, 2005 6:39 PMYes, but they can't. They can destroy Wahhabism.
Posted by: oj at April 3, 2005 6:48 PMProbably not. But it won't be from lack of trying. The thing holding them back is that the Death Cult of the Moon God requires its adherents to be so backward and barbarous that our technological advantages over them will remain of seminal importance. However, they can inflict a serious amount of damage on us and on the weaker members of the civilized flock, like the Euros.
Posted by: bart at April 3, 2005 6:58 PMbart: using your mafia metaphor, when do competing gangs ever share territory willingly ? to quote highlander "there can be only one". how likely is it, that we are arranging through arab intermediaries (hashemite dynasty for $100, alex, for the militants to be armed just enough to bleed the saudis in a gang war ? again, the self-cleaning oven strategy. i would take it as a given that few if any readers here, are under any allusions about the saudis.
Posted by: cjm at April 3, 2005 7:02 PM