Saudi Arabia building huge wall to keep Iraq out (more success in Iraq!)

[warrens]

JERUSALEM

Security in Iraq has collapsed so dramatically that Saudi Arabia has ordered the construction of a 900km high-tech fence to seal off its troubled northern neighbour.

The huge project to build the barrier, which will be equipped with ultraviolet night-vision cameras, buried sensor cables and thousands of kilometres of barbed wire, will snake across the vast desert frontier between the countries.

The fence will be built despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Saudi kingdom has spent in the past two years to beef up patrols on its border with Iraq. Officials say the crisis in Iraq is now so dangerous it must be physically shut out.

"Surveillance has already been stepped up over the past 18 months," Saudi National Security Assessment Project director Nawaf Obaid said. "But the feeling in Saudi is that Iraq is way out of control with no possibility of stability. The urgency now is to get that border sealed."

The fence is a fresh sign that key allies of the US in the Middle East are resigned to worsening violence and the possible break-up of Iraq, where American intelligence agencies fear the continuing conflict is fuelling global terrorism. The National Intelligence Estimate, a report compiled by 16 spy agencies, concluded that the Iraq war had become a cause celebre for Islamic extremists and was cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.

Saudi officials are worried about so-called "blowback", in which Saudi insurgents in Iraq bring jihad back to the streets of Riyadh and Jeddah. But they are mostly concerned that an Iraqi civil war will send a wave of refugees south.

Sorry, this is from Nexis, so no link. It is from the Western Australian, published in Perth.

[enigma000]

1. How many Saudi insuregents are there?

Most, if not all, are Iraqi.

[warrens]

2. They're afraid of Iraqi insurgents coming over the border

And overthrowing the House of Saud with all their new-found knowledge of how to oppose superior force. In other words, we made things WORSE, a lot worse. Personally, I hope the insurgents do knock of the Saudi regime. They're thugs.

[enigma000]

3. The article claims Saudi nationality

Saudi officials are worried about so-called "blowback", in which Saudi insurgents in Iraq bring jihad back to the streets of Riyadh and Jeddah.

....was this press release from the White House?