Saudi Arabia announces arrest of 110 Al Qaeda suspects

[IDemo]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia said it has detained more than 110 suspected militants sponsored by Al Qaeda’s branch in neighboring Yemen, including a dozen men allegedly plotting suicide attacks on the Kingdom’s oil installations.

The arrests, which took place in stages over the past five months and in different parts of the country, highlight the continuing risk posed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemen-based franchise is called, but also the stunning strides Saudi Arabia has made in penetrating and undermining militant cells in the past few years.

A network of 101 suspects, and two alleged suicide cells of six men each, were not cooperating with each other, said Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Mansour Al Turki. But “they all were asking for orders to start executing their plans from Al Qaeda in Yemen,” he added.

Since it formally announced its presence in January 2009, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has proven itself a robust branch of the movement.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0324/Saudi-Arabia-announces-arrest-of-110-Al-Qaeda-suspects

[Walk away]

1. Good old fashioned police work....no war necessary. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

5. Good old-fashioned police work?

Or maybe it's just "plain old rounding up of dissidents". This is Saudi Arabia, after all, one of the most oppressive, authoritarian countries on the planet. I would take every news report like this from Saudi Arabia with a very large grain of salt.

[damyank913]

6. I was thinking the same thing.

[Walk away]

10. I lived there and so did my family for years, I know all about it but...

some thing do actually work there and some people are trying to do the right thing. It is a very complicated place as is most of the middle east.

[Art_from_Ark]

11. I've heard numerous horror stories from friends and acquaintances

who were working over in Saudi Arabia (mostly for oil and mineral companies). If you're female and you leave the foreigners' compound without being completely covered from head to toe, you (and your husband.father/brother who is escorting you) can get whipped by some old geezer for showing off "too much" skin. If you are an unescorted female, it is even worse. And don't even think of saying anything bad, or even critical, about the religion, or royal family. There might actually be some police, etc., over there who think they are rounding up "Al Qaeda", but I think it's far more likely they're just rounding up people who are dissatisfied with life in that place.

[Walk away]

12. I lived in Riyadh at the same time my sister was the President of a women's bank in the same city.

Because of this I met many different people from a wide spectrum of the Saudi society. I also met many remarkable women, some of great wealth and highly educated and many working class woman with large families and small business. Yes, it is different and there are many things that may need to change but that is for the Saudi people to decide.

I also met lots of "Brits and Yanks" that live on compounds with Sri Lankan servants. Most of them were strangers in a strange land even after working years of contracts. Most of them just wanted to get the hell out every three months and get back to "civilization" and a mixed drink. I am sure your friends where quite amazed by the religious police. It is a country living in the past because of a ruling family and unlikely to change anytime soon. That family has been propped up by the good old USA.

I am a white woman and I respected and obeyed the rules that Saudis live by when I was there. I was treated with kindness and respect by men and women alike. It is a remarkable and rich culture with many genuine and good people.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. I think we're talking about two levels here

One level is the government and the restrictions it imposes on its citizens, especially females. The other level is of the average citizen. The average citizens have to make the best of what the government imposes on them, and you being an American probably meant that they felt they could be more open with you (like my Chinese officemate was with me in the immediate aftermath of Tienamen Square). However, I really have my doubts about a government that cuts people's hands off for theft, holds public executions, and keeps girls from escaping from a burning building because they aren't "dressed properly".

[Walk away]

14. I know it is difficult to understand but just like here in the U.S.

it is people that run the government on most levels. The Religious Police are a completely seperate entity from the army or police force. In some areas they have virtual authority and in others they are not involved. This can change depending on the political situation but it isn't quite as simple as you represent it.

[Double T]

2. Art Therapy will have those terrorists rehabilitated in no time.

[damyank913]

7. They especially enjoy "Creative Bomb-making" 101.

Oh wait-that's a high school course-too elementary...

[progressoid]

3. That can't be right. Saudia Arabia is our ally. The terrists are all in Iraq.

[Boojatta]

4. If they're suspects then why haven't their executions taken place?

After all, we are talking about Saudi Arabia.

[damyank913]

8. It would be interesting to know exactly what is defined as "terrorism" in Saudi Arabia.

[onager]

9. Being a Shi'ite will do the trick.

I lived/worked in Saudi Arabia for 2 years. During major religious festivals and the hajj, the Saudi military kept a close eye on the bigger Shi'ite towns/villages. As in, "ringed the place with armored vehicles."

The funny thing is...AFAIK, terrorist attacks on the govt. have always come from fundamentalist Sunni whackjobs, not the Shi'ites.

(Standard Disclaimer: I'm an atheist, so I don't have a god in this fight. I also lived in Egypt for nearly 4 years, so I've had a good close look at Islam in the field, so to speak).

1965: Saudi Arabia's first TV station goes on the air. Denounced as "a tool of the devil," it is stormed and occupied by extreme fundamentalists from the Saudi Army - led by a nephew of King Faisal.

Faisal declares that no one is above the law, not even his own family. The TV station is eventually re-taken and the leader is killed.

Ten years later, the leader's younger brother has converted from drug-sucking, woman-chasing playboy to...guess what? Yep, extreme religious fundamentalist. He assassinates his uncle, the King.

1979: the shit REALLY hits the fan. In Mecca, heavily armed fundamentalists seize the Grand Mosque.

Again, they are not Shi'ites but a splinter Sunni group who believe their leader is the long-awaited Mahdi. He will usher in a new era for the whole world, bla-bla-bla.

Fighting goes on for weeks in the ancient tunnels and cellars of the Grand Mosque - despite such tactics as flooding the tunnels, then dropping live high-voltage cables into the water.

Reportedly, the Saudis finally borrow a unit of French commandos to take out the terrorists. Since the commandos are Official Infidels and cannot even enter Mecca, they are hurriedly converted to Islam. Temporarily. (The Saudi govt. denies that story to this day, which probably means it is true.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_Seizure