Al-Qaida says it hit Saudi oil facility/ Al Jazeera

[TexasLawyer]

Al-Qaida says it hit Saudi oil facility

Saturday 25 February 2006, 7:27 Makka Time, 4:27 GMT

Oil prices jumped $2 a barrel on news of the attack


Al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for the foiled attack on a Saudi Arabian oil facility at Abqaiq on Friday. In a statement posted on a Web site often used by Islamist groups, al-Qaida said two of its members carried out the attack.

It said the raid was within the framework of efforts by al-Qaida to prevent the theft of Muslims' wealth by "crusaders and Jews" and to force "infidels" out of the peninsula. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

In Abqaiq, a guard manning an outer gate of the facility said security forces were combing the plant in search of any of the attackers hiding there. "The security situation is still unstable," said the guard, ushering people away.

Two cars had exploded at the gates of the huge facility after security forces fired on suicide bombers trying to storm it. Saudi security adviser Nawaf Obaid said security forces fired on three cars at the outer gates, 1.5km from the main entrance. He said that one car, carrying armed men and packed with explosives, rammed the gates.


<snip>

Significant target

Robert Baer, the former Middle East CIA field officer, has described Abqaiq as "the most vulnerable point and most spectacular target in the Saudi oil system". Gary Ross, CEO at PIRA Energy consultancy in New York said: "It's not clear what damage there is but Abqaiq is the world's most important oil facility," "This just emphasises fears over global oil supply security when we're already facing major ongoing risks in Nigeria, Iran and Iraq."

<snip>

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A429E32C-D484-424E-9C58-D9E287580817.htm

[cantstandbush]

1. Notice NO ONE has claimed responsibility for bombing the Shia Mosque

Now ain't that strange?

[oblivious]

6. Sure is.

[tom_paine]

7. Not strange at all, if you know your history

The secretive and numerous "false-flag" operations are a hallmark of Totalitarian Nations and Imperial Amerika although we are new to Totalitarianism, is no different I think.

It was always a possibility.

Also, I find it interesting that the van used to murder the Lebanese Minister was found to have come through the Port of Dubai in UAE.

[mom cat]

13. Michael Ledeen:"One can only hope that we turn the region into a cauldron"

"One can only hope that we turn the region into a cauldron, and faster, please. If ever there were a region that richly deserved being cauldronized, it is the Middle East today. If we wage the war effectively, we will bring down the terror regimes in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, and either bring down the Saudi monarchy or force it to abandon its global assembly line to indoctrinate young terrorists. That's our mission in the war against terror." Michael Ledeen

http://www.irmep.org/dp_world.htm

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Ever notice how not ever attack is "claimed?"

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Well that is true.

However I'm wondering, if sunni extremists blew up the Golden Dome in order to instigate sunni-shia civil war, why didn't they claim credit for doing so?

Wouldn't that have helped their objectives?

I'm also wondering about the timing of the attack. It seems that if the attackers had set off their bombs 30 minutes earlier they would have caused massive casulties to the daily morning prayer attendees. Once again, if the theory is that this was the work of sunni religious extremists, hell bent of causing a civil war, why not cause maximum damage?

[uppityperson]

2. dang, forgot to get gas today.

will get it tomorrow.

[cliss]

3. OK: now I've got some loose ends I need to tie up.

According to what I've read, the Saudi's funnel a lot of money to terrorist groups. They have schools called 'madrasas' where they teach the kids to hate everything about the West.

The Saudis encourage and fund extremism. Of the 17 hijackers who flew the planes on 9/11, 15 of them were Saudis. Extremists, I'd say.

Can anyone explain to me why the Saudis would encourage groups like Al Qaida which will take apart their biggest source of livelihood? Why does all this seem contradictory?

Another question: Al Qaida in their statement above "to prevent the theft of Muslims' wealth by "crusaders and Jews". Is this also true? The Saudis get paid pretty well for their oil, don't they? And does this oil go to Israel?

If this is not true, somebody better give the facts to Al Qaida. Because they will be back.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

4. that makes no sense!! They hit their own $ source? Why would they ? n/t

[HuffleClaw]

5. CIAl Qaeda they mean

pretty transparent if you asks me. and of course a convenient oil price spike right afterwards. which benefits who exactly? hmmmmm. and all this stuff right before bush goes abroad, gotta love the timing.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. It has to be the CIA, of course.

:eyes:

[BR_Parkway]

10. British soldiers dressed as insurgents - any one ever hear more about that

or did it just drop down the memory hole too?

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Hear it all the time here.

Black-Ops do happen. It is not to say that all attacks are Black-Ops. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar.

[stillcool]

14. Dahr Jamail remembers....

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000365.php

February 24, 2006
Who Benefits?
The most important question to ask regarding the bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on the 22nd is: who benefits?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that those who committed the attack on the Golden Mosque “have only one motive: to create a violent sedition between the Sunnis and the Shiites in order to derail the Iraqi rising democracy from its path.”

Well said Mr. Blair, particularly when we keep in mind the fact that less than a year ago in Basra, two undercover British SAS soldiers were detained by Iraqi security forces whilst traveling in a car full of bombs and remote detonators.

Jailed and accused by Muqtada al-Sadr and others of attempting to generate sectarian conflict by planting bombs in mosques, they were broken out of the Iraqi jail by the British military before they could be tried.

Posted by Dahr_Jamail at February 24, 2006 06:45 PM