Merlin1047
Senior Member
More abductions and murders. Now islamic hypocrites use the Abu-Graib excuse as we knew they would. But in the same breath they admit their purpose is to drive the "infidel" from arab countries.
Keep telling me that arabs aren't racist and the islam is not a religion of violence and hatred. Maybe if I hear that crap often enough I'll believe the propoganda instead of the evidence.
Fat chance.
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:07 a.m. ET June 13, 2004
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5196406/
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Authorities searched Sunday for an American apparently abducted by Islamic militants threatening to treat him the way Iraqi inmates were treated in a U.S.-run prison and for the assailants who shot dead another American in the capital, the third killing of a Westerner in a week.
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Saturday's slaying and apparent abduction were the latest attacks in a campaign of anti-Western violence in the kingdom, believed to be aimed at driving out foreigners and disrupting the vital oil sector.
None of the gunmen have been caught in the fatal shooting June 6 of an Irish TV cameraman, Tuesday's slaying of an American contractor or the killing Saturday of another American, identified by the U.S. Embassy as Kenneth Scroggs. A British journalist also was seriously wounded in Sunday's attack.
Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities were searching for the assailants. Saudi forces, they said, stormed a suburban Riyadh house Sunday morning, arresting a man inside and confiscating a computer. It wasn't clear if he was linked to any of the past week's shootings.
Scroggs was shot in the back as he parked in his garage. The U.S. Embassy did not identify the missing American but said Saturday it was working with Saudi officials to find him. A spokesperson said the embassy had no further details Sunday on the shooting or apparent abduction.
A purported al-Qaida statement posted on an Islamic Web site late Saturday claimed the terror group had killed one American and kidnapped another in Riyadh. It threatened to treat the captive as U.S. troops treated Iraqi prisoners -- a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The scandal has outraged Arabs and damaged Washington's already low credibility in the region.
Kidnapping claim
In the kidnapping claim, the al-Qaida statement showed a passport-size photo of a brown-haired man and a Lockheed Martin business card. It said he was born in 1955.
The cell phone listed on the card was switched off, and a call to a second phone number was picked up by a voicemail message by a deep-voiced man.
The statement said the terror group would deal with the man just as "the Americans dealt with our brothers in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib" -- a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses of Iraqi and Muslim prisoners by U.S. troops.
On Sunday, security officials confirmed a suspicious car found Saturday near Imam University belonged to the man. Saudi press reports said the car was booby trapped and later caught fire.
The statement also said the man is one of four experts in Saudi Arabia working on developing Apache helicopter systems and that the American killed worked in the same industry. It did not identify the slain American but said he was killed at his house.
"Everybody knows that these helicopters are used by the Americans, their Zionist allies and the apostates to kill Muslims, terrorizing them and displacing them in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq," said the statement.
It said al-Qaida would release a videotape later to show the man's confessions and list its demands.
A Lockheed Martin spokesman confirmed that the man was a Lockheed employee but declined to say what his job was or where he is from. The spokesman also said Lockheed Martin was not aware of any employees who had been killed in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi security source told The Associated Press that Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi firm whose Web site lists Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on the kidnapped man's business card was for Advanced Electronics.
Claim for earlier attacks
The statement was signed by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the same group that claimed responsibility for a shooting and hostage-taking spree in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar on May 29-30. The attack at the hub of the Saudi oil industry killed 22 people, mostly foreign workers.
The videotape that claims to show the "beheading of a Jewish American, Robert Jacobs" was attributed to the same group.
Jacobs, 62, of Murphysboro, Ill., worked for U.S. defense contractor Vinnell Corp.
The video, less than two minutes long, does not show any faces. It begins with men running in a garage and a voice yelling in English, "No, no, please!" A shot is fired, and the body of what appears to be a Western man falls to the ground. Two gunmen fire at least 10 more shots at the fallen man, then one kneels by his head and motions as if he is beheading him.
A coworker found Jacobs shot in his home Tuesday, and Jacobs was taken to a hospital. There were no reports at the time that his killers attempted to behead him. There was no way to confirm the authenticity of the statements or the video.
Saudis try to crack down
An estimated 8.8 million foreigners work among 17 million Saudis in the kingdom, mostly in the oil sector, banking and other high-level businesses.
Militant attacks against Westerners, government targets and economic interests in the Saudi kingdom have surged in the past two months, despite a high-profile campaign against terrorists the government began after suicide bombings last year.
Crown Prince Abdullah, shown on Saudi television Saturday greeting visitors at a Riyadh palace, urged his guests to "inform me personally of anyone who has deviated from religion, attacked (it) or is an extremist."
"I pledge, God willing, ... that they (militants) will not slip away from the hand of justice," Abdullah said.
U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter, in a statement reacting to Saturday's killing and other recent terrorist attacks, expressed his condolences to victim's families.
"Those Americans who choose to remain here should exercise the utmost caution as they go about their daily life," Oberwetter said.
"I applaud Saudi Arabia's determination to bring an end to terrorism in the kingdom," he added.
Speaking in London, Sheik Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al Sheik, the Saudi minister for Islamic affairs, said Saturday that despite the recent surge of attacks, terrorism in his country had not reached crisis proportions.
"If you look back through the efforts of the Saudi government in tackling terrorism, they have destroyed half of the terrorist force," Al Sheik told journalists at the Saudi embassy in London.
"Our assessment of the situation is that it is controllable, but because there are sleeping cells and because the terrorists live in a crowded area the Saudi forces do not want to hurt any of the local people," he said.
Several tactics used
Terror experts have noted that the militants are using several tactics -- including shootings and ambushes where the gunmen do not die -- rather than limiting themselves to suicide bombings or swift attacks under the cover of darkness.
They are also trying to avoid killing Muslims. The death of several Muslims and Arabs in a November compound attack in Riyadh horrified many Muslims -- something that could seriously affect recruiting efforts.
Experts say the terrorists want to create "a psychosis of terror" so foreigners will leave the country, the oil and defense sectors would suffer and the system would weaken.
Last Sunday, an Irish cameraman was killed and a British TV correspondent was critically wounded when fired on while filming in a neighborhood that is home to many Islamic militants.
The United States has urged all its citizens to leave the kingdom, and the British Foreign Office has advised Britons against all nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia.
Keep telling me that arabs aren't racist and the islam is not a religion of violence and hatred. Maybe if I hear that crap often enough I'll believe the propoganda instead of the evidence.
Fat chance.
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:07 a.m. ET June 13, 2004
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5196406/
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Authorities searched Sunday for an American apparently abducted by Islamic militants threatening to treat him the way Iraqi inmates were treated in a U.S.-run prison and for the assailants who shot dead another American in the capital, the third killing of a Westerner in a week.
advertisement
Saturday's slaying and apparent abduction were the latest attacks in a campaign of anti-Western violence in the kingdom, believed to be aimed at driving out foreigners and disrupting the vital oil sector.
None of the gunmen have been caught in the fatal shooting June 6 of an Irish TV cameraman, Tuesday's slaying of an American contractor or the killing Saturday of another American, identified by the U.S. Embassy as Kenneth Scroggs. A British journalist also was seriously wounded in Sunday's attack.
Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities were searching for the assailants. Saudi forces, they said, stormed a suburban Riyadh house Sunday morning, arresting a man inside and confiscating a computer. It wasn't clear if he was linked to any of the past week's shootings.
Scroggs was shot in the back as he parked in his garage. The U.S. Embassy did not identify the missing American but said Saturday it was working with Saudi officials to find him. A spokesperson said the embassy had no further details Sunday on the shooting or apparent abduction.
A purported al-Qaida statement posted on an Islamic Web site late Saturday claimed the terror group had killed one American and kidnapped another in Riyadh. It threatened to treat the captive as U.S. troops treated Iraqi prisoners -- a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The scandal has outraged Arabs and damaged Washington's already low credibility in the region.
Kidnapping claim
In the kidnapping claim, the al-Qaida statement showed a passport-size photo of a brown-haired man and a Lockheed Martin business card. It said he was born in 1955.
The cell phone listed on the card was switched off, and a call to a second phone number was picked up by a voicemail message by a deep-voiced man.
The statement said the terror group would deal with the man just as "the Americans dealt with our brothers in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib" -- a reference to sexual and other alleged abuses of Iraqi and Muslim prisoners by U.S. troops.
On Sunday, security officials confirmed a suspicious car found Saturday near Imam University belonged to the man. Saudi press reports said the car was booby trapped and later caught fire.
The statement also said the man is one of four experts in Saudi Arabia working on developing Apache helicopter systems and that the American killed worked in the same industry. It did not identify the slain American but said he was killed at his house.
"Everybody knows that these helicopters are used by the Americans, their Zionist allies and the apostates to kill Muslims, terrorizing them and displacing them in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq," said the statement.
It said al-Qaida would release a videotape later to show the man's confessions and list its demands.
A Lockheed Martin spokesman confirmed that the man was a Lockheed employee but declined to say what his job was or where he is from. The spokesman also said Lockheed Martin was not aware of any employees who had been killed in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi security source told The Associated Press that Scroggs worked for Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi firm whose Web site lists Lockheed Martin among its customers. The office number on the kidnapped man's business card was for Advanced Electronics.
Claim for earlier attacks
The statement was signed by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the same group that claimed responsibility for a shooting and hostage-taking spree in the eastern Saudi city of Khobar on May 29-30. The attack at the hub of the Saudi oil industry killed 22 people, mostly foreign workers.
The videotape that claims to show the "beheading of a Jewish American, Robert Jacobs" was attributed to the same group.
Jacobs, 62, of Murphysboro, Ill., worked for U.S. defense contractor Vinnell Corp.
The video, less than two minutes long, does not show any faces. It begins with men running in a garage and a voice yelling in English, "No, no, please!" A shot is fired, and the body of what appears to be a Western man falls to the ground. Two gunmen fire at least 10 more shots at the fallen man, then one kneels by his head and motions as if he is beheading him.
A coworker found Jacobs shot in his home Tuesday, and Jacobs was taken to a hospital. There were no reports at the time that his killers attempted to behead him. There was no way to confirm the authenticity of the statements or the video.
Saudis try to crack down
An estimated 8.8 million foreigners work among 17 million Saudis in the kingdom, mostly in the oil sector, banking and other high-level businesses.
Militant attacks against Westerners, government targets and economic interests in the Saudi kingdom have surged in the past two months, despite a high-profile campaign against terrorists the government began after suicide bombings last year.
Crown Prince Abdullah, shown on Saudi television Saturday greeting visitors at a Riyadh palace, urged his guests to "inform me personally of anyone who has deviated from religion, attacked (it) or is an extremist."
"I pledge, God willing, ... that they (militants) will not slip away from the hand of justice," Abdullah said.
U.S. Ambassador James C. Oberwetter, in a statement reacting to Saturday's killing and other recent terrorist attacks, expressed his condolences to victim's families.
"Those Americans who choose to remain here should exercise the utmost caution as they go about their daily life," Oberwetter said.
"I applaud Saudi Arabia's determination to bring an end to terrorism in the kingdom," he added.
Speaking in London, Sheik Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al Sheik, the Saudi minister for Islamic affairs, said Saturday that despite the recent surge of attacks, terrorism in his country had not reached crisis proportions.
"If you look back through the efforts of the Saudi government in tackling terrorism, they have destroyed half of the terrorist force," Al Sheik told journalists at the Saudi embassy in London.
"Our assessment of the situation is that it is controllable, but because there are sleeping cells and because the terrorists live in a crowded area the Saudi forces do not want to hurt any of the local people," he said.
Several tactics used
Terror experts have noted that the militants are using several tactics -- including shootings and ambushes where the gunmen do not die -- rather than limiting themselves to suicide bombings or swift attacks under the cover of darkness.
They are also trying to avoid killing Muslims. The death of several Muslims and Arabs in a November compound attack in Riyadh horrified many Muslims -- something that could seriously affect recruiting efforts.
Experts say the terrorists want to create "a psychosis of terror" so foreigners will leave the country, the oil and defense sectors would suffer and the system would weaken.
Last Sunday, an Irish cameraman was killed and a British TV correspondent was critically wounded when fired on while filming in a neighborhood that is home to many Islamic militants.
The United States has urged all its citizens to leave the kingdom, and the British Foreign Office has advised Britons against all nonessential travel to Saudi Arabia.
