http://www.charlotte.com/206/story/102539.html

Quote :

"Saudis: Foiled plot mirrored 9/11 attack By ABDULLAH SHIHRI and MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press Writers AP PhotoThis image made from footage broadcast by the Saudi state TV channel Al-Ekhbariah, Friday, April 27, 2007, is said by them to show weapons recovered during police operations. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia --Al-Qaida-linked plotters hoped to reproduce the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, planning to send suicide pilots to military bases and attack the oil refineries that drive the economy of Osama bin Laden's homeland, the government said Saturday. Revealing new details of the purported plot, a government spokesman said some of the 172 attackers trained as pilots in an unidentified "troubled country" nearby, hoping to use the planes to carry out suicide attacks. The spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, would not say where the training took place: "It could be Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, there are so many troubled regions in the world. I can't specify." The militants allegedly wanted to use planes "like car bombs ... to use the aircraft as a tool to carry out suicide operations," al-Turki told The Associated Press by phone from this capital city. Targets included Saudi military bases that militants had no other way of reaching but by blowing up an aircraft, he said. "The last group (we) rounded up are carriers of al-Qaida ideology, working on achieving al-Qaida goals, which is to take over the society," al-Turki said. The monthslong roundup of alleged Islamic militants from seven terror cells was one of the biggest terror sweeps since Saudi leaders began an unrelenting offensive against extremists after militants attacked foreigners and others involved in the country's oil industry seeking to topple the monarchy for its alliance with the U.S. But analysts say al-Qaida followers are determined to stay active in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. "This is the heart of Islam, the birthplace of Islam. Saudi Arabia has a huge psychological value for al-Qaida. ... Despite the crackdown, al-Qaida will keep trying to establish itself in Saudi Arabia," said Mustafa Alani, director of security and terrorism studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. Along with the planned suicide attacks, authorities said the latest arrests also thwarted plots to mount attacks on the kingdom's oil refineries, break militants out of prison and send suicide attackers to kill government officials. The Interior Ministry also said some targets were outside the country, which it did not identify. Al-Turki did not elaborate or specifically say those detained were al-Qaida members, but his comments marked a rare mention of the terror network by Saudi officials, who customarily refer to the organization as a "deviant group." Saudi Arabia's long alliance with the United States has angered Saudi extremists, especially bin Laden, who was born in Saudi Arabia. Fifteen of the 19 airline hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks were also from here. An austere strain of Islam known as Wahhabism is followed by the country's predominantly Sunni Muslim population, and militant groups have attracted Saudi recruits with extremist leanings. Militants have attacked foreigners living in Saudi Arabia and the country's oil industry, which has more than 260 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, a quarter of the world's total. Bin Laden also has urged such attacks to hurt the flow of oil to the West. The four-year U.S.-led war in neighboring Iraq has also provided a training ground for al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters. U.S. officials have warned it could become a regional base for extremists planning attacks elsewhere in the region. Saudi's ruling family has pursued an aggressive campaign against militants since the May 2003 suicide attack on three housing estates for foreigners in Riyadh. The kingdom's security forces have managed to kill or capture most of those on its list of the 26 most-wanted al-Qaida loyalists in the country. Sheik Majed al-Marsal, a religious adviser to the Saudi Interior Ministry, told the independent Al-Watan newspaper that he believes Iraq has become the new Afghanistan. Terror groups "are exploiting the situation in Iraq, recruiting young men, equipping them and training them and then sending them back to work inside their home countries just like what happened in Afghanistan," the cleric was quoted as saying. It was unclear how much al-Marsal knew about the latest arrests. Faris bin Hizam, a Saudi writer and expert on terror groups, said not only has Iraq been "fertile soil" for young militants, but al-Qaida itself has morphed over the years from a centralized organization to a network of loosely organized terror cells that follow its ideology. "Al-Qaida which means 'the Base,' has turned from a solid base to a liquid one" that can spread more easily, bin Hizam said. "This is more dangerous simply because you can't put your hand on someone and say this is al-Qaida. You can't hunt down an idea." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press writers Abdullah Shihri reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Maggie Michael from Cairo, Egypt. "

4/29/2007 1:35:27 AM

You're posting that at 1:35am on a Saturday night?

4/29/2007 9:19:39 AM

in other news.....

terrorist plot to destroy TreeTwista10's social life a success.

[Edited on April 29, 2007 at 9:33 AM. Reason : djafjskdf]

4/29/2007 9:33:17 AM

quality commentary by two quality non-trolls

4/29/2007 3:05:30 PM

What more did you expect? You committed the first sin of TSB, posting a link and not starting the discussion. Of course I'm going to troll the piss out of your thread. Were you hoping someone would make a statement first so you could go ahead and make the opposite statement and have yourself a gleeful little time laughing at all the internerds? Clown.

4/29/2007 3:38:16 PM

GG Saudis

4/29/2007 5:22:46 PM

Even though Saudi Arabia and Pakistan get a lot of hate from Americans because of the terrorism problem (most of it, rightfully so), those 2 countries have done more to combat terrorism since 9/11 than the rest of the world combined.

Around 2,000-3,000 terrorists (NOT suspects, as in Guantanamo or other secret CIA jails) have been arrested or killed by those 2 countries in THOUSANDS of raids and street battles, about equally divided between the 2 countries, but probably more in SA.

A lot of the raids led to spectacular bombing plans that were in the final stages. Without the work that SA and Pakistan have done in anti-terrorism in the past few years, several more large attacks (on the order of Madrid, London, Jordan, and maybe even 9/11) would have taken place.

Saudi forces killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in SA a year or two ago in a shootout, and then some other guy took over, and if I am not mistaken, he was also recently killed or arrested.

Doesn't say in the article above, but a lot of weapons, computers, and more than $5,000,000 in cash was also confiscated.

You guys don't see it much, because American media doesn't carry reports of these raids and street battles unless it is a big one like the one in this thread, but I see such reports every week or so in the local press here.


[Edited on April 29, 2007 at 5:39 PM. Reason : ]

4/29/2007 5:32:16 PM

Quote :

"(NOT suspects, as in Guantanamo or other secret CIA jails) "

thats what we say, they say the same, but since they are "them", they are right

4/29/2007 5:48:02 PM

Is that why after 6+ years, only about 80 are being charged from the original 1,000+ (of which only 500 remain, the rest having been sent to their home countries without any charges or convictions)?

STFU you oppressor.


[Edited on April 29, 2007 at 6:11 PM. Reason : ]

4/29/2007 6:00:32 PM

Those two governments probably will kill and ask questions later and the proof of being a terrorist is probably dramatically lower than it is here. So maybe some of the people we have in Guantanamo would have already been convicted and killed if they were in Saudi Arabia...

Both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have their own reasons for cracking down on militants and somehow I don't think any of those reasons has to do with a great altruism towards the US.

4/29/2007 6:44:02 PM

Quote :

"I don't think any of those reasons has to do with a great altruism towards the US."

No one ever said that. 2 reasons come to mind:

1) These terrorists are terrorizing those 2 countries as well.
2) If those 2 countries didn't do anything to capture them, they know the US will send its aid packages (cruise missiles) to them.

And your first paragraph may or may not be true, but it was pure speculation on your part.

4/29/2007 6:56:31 PM

like i said, that is what we are told

no one believes what "we" (meaning us, excluding you) say, so sue me if i choose not to take what "they" say as gospel

4/29/2007 7:32:26 PM

Quote :

"State409c Suspended 19558 Posts user info edit post You're posting that at 1:35am on a Saturday night? 4/29/2007 9:19:39 AM Dentaldamn All American 3154 Posts user info edit post in other news..... terrorist plot to destroy TreeTwista10's social life a success. [Edited on April 29, 2007 at 9:33 AM. Reason : djafjskdf] 4/29/2007 9:33:17 AM"

9 am on a saturday. you guys are winners for sure

4/30/2007 5:06:56 PM