Doubts over Saudi al-Qaeda blow (questions re: Johnson's missing body)

[UpInArms]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3826423.stm

excerpt:

The original story was simple - Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula - was killed in a shootout after trying to dump the body of the American hostage Paul Johnson.

Johnson had had just been beheaded by Muqrin's group after a deadline expired for the release of prisoners in Saudi jails.

But by Saturday the picture had begun to muddy.

It turns out that Paul Johnson's body had not been discovered after all and the search was still going on for it around Riyadh.

...more...

[chelsea0011]

1. Doesn't make a whole lotta sense.

The leader supposedly was fingered by a tip on his license plate while dumping body. He's dead and body can't be found? This story has a smell to it.

[gWbush is Mabus]

2. CIA

[MidwestTransplant]

4. I would bet any amount of money it's not the CIA

don't be silly.

Why would you think it's more likely them than the Saudi Intel. or some other Saudi entity that collaborated with the killers.

[daleo]

3. Nothing is ever what it seems to be

First of all, what proof has been offered as to the identity of the people killed by the Saudi security forces? I haven't seen anything yet that proves they weren't just patsies or scapegoats.

Also, if the Saudi government has been penetrated by Al-Quada (and vice versa), the perpetrators may have been identified after the operation, as a means of getting rid of them. Perhaps there was a power struggle going on inside A-Q, and this was a convenient way of striking the government and getting rid of an internal rival at the same time.

[jobycom]

5. It means they had Al-Muqrin under surveillance, would be my guess

That's how they found him so quickly. If this group is right that some Saudi officials helped them out, then maybe one of those officials was caught and turned on the group, so the Saudis knew where to find him.

The Saudis couldn't admit this, because then they'd have to explain why they couldn't rescue Johnson.

Bush is fighting a Hydra. Al-Quieda grows three heads back for every one our side lops off. Another year or two of this, and the whole Middle East will be under their control against us. Reminds me of a couple of the militant Arab groups of the Middle Ages rising up out of nowhere and conquering large empires. The way we're going, we are turning UBL into another Muhammad.

[daleo]

6. Exactly, why not rescue Johnson?

It is as if someone wanted that part of the operation to succeed, but also wanted the perpetrators to be taken out almost immediately. I wonder who would gain by that? It drives a wedge between U.S. and Saudi Arabia, but also weakens A-Q, in as much as one of their main operatives is killed.

[Mnemosyne]

7. don't forget

CIA trained al cia'duh, I believe when raygun was pres.?

[gasperc]

8. either way, TV plastered with news of top al-queda leader killed

while dumping Johnson's body and now it turns out there was NO BODY being dumped

WTF

[Whoa_Nelly]

10. So who's body was dumped

and who was seen fleeing the scene, given chase to and shot in a gun battle?

The news reported from Saudi Arabia has similarities to news we get here: It happened, we found'em, all is well. We're on top of things, handling things quickly and with remarkable dispatch. No need to worry.

:wtf:

[DulceDecorum]

9. In the Milagro Beanfield War

there was a man who had lost his arm in an accident.
They never found the arm.
Whenever anything went missing, the villagers would blame the arm.

We know that one of the top al qaeda "generals" had a leg transplanted - in Baghdad. The Western media was very vocal about the removal of said limb but is curiously silent about the reattchment of the leg. I understand that the work of Dr. Frankenstein is not held in great esteem.

Anyhow,
We now have a missing body.
And an superfluous leg
in our Milagro Oilfield War.
Prepare thyself for the advent of
Jake the fake
(and his extra leg.)
You will know him by his Australian -- I mean New Zealand -- passport
and his desire to kick the Muslims out of Mecca and Medina
so that he may siphon off their petroleum products.

The neocon plan of taking down Iraq to pressure Saudi Arabia on terrorism has a major problem. Any invasion of Iraq would require the support of surrounding nations. Neocons naively believe that the Saudi government, reluctant to help the United States launch an unprovoked attack on Iraq even before neocon thinking became public, would now cheerfully provide bases and logistical support for U.S. forces to invade Iraq. And the neocons apparently believe that when even some members of the administration would like to turn the U.S. war on terrorism to a war on Saudi oil fields once the job in Iraq is done.
http://www.cato.org/dailys/08-13-02.html

[colonel odis]

11. who benefits from al-qaeda operating in saudi arabia?

does the u.s.?

does that give the bush administration the moxie to hitch up their pants and put the saudis "on notice" or something similarly crazy?

who thinks the neocons lust will stop with iraqi oil? maybe it's not iran they want to go after next but saudi arabia. perhaps this could be an excuse for a greater american military presence in saudi arabia. wouldn't be the first time the bush family turned around and screwed one of their "friends." same as he's getting ready to do to cheney, who's quickly becoming a liability.