Job Discussion Forums

Mark100 · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 441

Does anyone in Yanbu have any more info on the events of today?

Bindair Dundat · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Posts: 1123

For those who don't know what Mr. 100 is referring to:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/01/saudi.attack/index.html

Odd that there's no story about this on Al-Qaeda's --oops, I mean Al-Jazeera's-- web site.

run-jp · Posted: Sat May 01, 2004 12:00 pm Post subject: 7 Westerners were killed

acoording to CharlotteNC paper http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/8566850.htm?1c

at least 7 were killed at a Exxon Mobil and the Saudi company SABIC in northwestern Saudi Arabia, killing at least three Americans, two Britons, an Australian and a Saudi but militants who busted into the place, killing The SANG (Nat. Guardsman) that are now posted all over saudi for security detail.

sure the SANG guys i teach will have some heated comments on Sun.

there's a uni in Yanbu that am sure ll be effected by this.

Watch your back all,

Hunkered Down Teach"

run-jp

At the bottom of previous sory I read this familiar-sounding story:

n American was also killed in a May 1, 2003, shooting attack at the King Abdul Aziz Naval base in Jubail, about 250 miles northeast of Riyadh. Few details about that shooting were released. The attacker, who was dressed in a Saudi navy uniform, escaped..

A colleauge told me this story but he said the guy was ateacher who was fatally shot for giving cadet (the gunman) a poor/failing grade.

anyone hear that , too? ...am glad i 'm not responsible for testing at any rate.

take care all

ohman · Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Posts: 239 Location: B' Um Fouk, Egypt

Run--
Maybe you should revise your Coen Brother's quote.

"There's more to life than a little bit of money, you know. Don't ya know that? I just don't understand it. And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day..." (says Marge in Fargo)

Paul in Saudi · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 404 Location: Doha, Qatar

If the initial reports are correct, this seems to be the first attack the public knows about against an oil target. This would be a change in strategy by Those People and could be quite significant.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

"strategy"

Do you think they have one ? I am not one of those who go for the idea of an evil genius ditting in a cave in the Hindu Kush manipulating his slavish followers.

Much more diffuse than that. Anyway keep your heads down folks. Roll on my looooooong summer vacation somewhere peaceful. (Where was I going ? Madrid, NYC, Omagh, Istanbul, Bali ?)

johnslat · Posted: Sat May 01, 2004 4:43 pm Post subject: Inshallah

At the risk of appearing to be prejudiced, and even taking into consideration the success of 9/11, I have to say I never noticed planning for the future was the strong suit of many Saudis.
Regards,
John

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Some disturbing details in this story. Here are the latest details from Reuters:

"Three employees entered the site, taking advantage of their passes and allowing a fourth accomplice to enter through the emergency gate. They opened fire at offices, using various weapons and fled the spot to a residential complex with the aim of attacking it," a ministry official said in a statement.

Police chased the four militants through residential areas and guards at a residential compound opened fire on them, forcing them to retreat. They then exchanged fire with police in several spots. Three of the militants were killed and the fourth was wounded and died later.

The ministry did not name the four. It said the attack on the ABB engineers also wounded three others -- a Pakistani, an American and a Canadian. One national guard died in the clashes. Eight others and 10 policemen were wounded.

Other Saudi officials said two Saudi officers were killed.

An oil official said the gunmen shouted "God is Greatest" as they fired. The term is often used by Qaeda militants and other Jihadists.

SHOOTING SPREE

But Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah said "Zionists' hands" were behind Saturday's attacks.

Local witnesses said militants first shot dead a Western man as he was leaving his compound near the Holiday Inn hotel in Yanbu, tied his body to their car and dragged it into the streets. His nationality was not known. Other reports said the body belonged to one of the five engineers.

None of the embassies could confirm the report.

Militants also shot at U.S. fast food chain McDonald's during the rampage in Yanbu, 250 km (160 miles) north of Jeddah, which had been largely unaffected by violence.

An ABB Lummus spokesman said two other Americans were wounded in Yanbu, which along with the port of Jubail is home to much of Saudi's oil refining and petrochemical industries.

ABB Lummus is carrying out an upgrading project for Saudi petrochemical firm YANPET, jointly owned by U.S. Exxon Mobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC).

A Western resident said gunmen also threw a pipebomb at the city's international school. One employee was slightly injured.

VS
(Especially noted the Crown Prince's helpful comments)

johnslat · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 3:28 am Post subject: Foreign hands

Dear veiled sentiments,
Did Abdullah actually say "Zionist hands" were behind the attack? I could easily believe Naif's saying something like that, but I'd though the Crown Prince had better sense. I've tried to find another source for the quote but haven't been able to locate one. The Arab News has him saying:

". . . . he believed foreign hands were behind the recent terrorist attacks in the Kingdom.

�We are 95 percent sure, if not 100 percent, that foreign hands are behind these events,� the crown prince told a group of princes, ministers and senior officials who came to meet him.

However, Prince Abdullah emphasized that Saudi Arabia would confront terrorists who try to undermine the country�s security with an iron hand.

�We will track down this deviant group, no matter how long it takes,� he said in an apparent reference to Al-Qaeda sympathizers. The Kingdom has intensified its campaign to stamp out terrorism.

�Your country is targeted and you know who is behind all this. ... Regrettably, they have deceived some of our sons,� the Saudi Press Agency quoted Prince Abdullah as saying.

�They have fallen into their (trap) and the latest such incident took place in Yanbu where they killed seven people including five expatriates, a National Guard officer and a policeman and wounded 25 others,� he said."

The "foreign hands" mentioned would, most rational people assume, I believe, be Islamic terrorists rather than "Zionists.
Regards,
John

johnslat · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 3:34 am Post subject: It's all a Zionist plot - again

Dear veiledsentiments,
To answer my own question:

"Later, the Saudi Press Agency quoted Abdullah as telling a gathering of princes in Jiddah that "Zionism is behind terrorist actions in the kingdom. I can say that I am 95 percent sure of that."

He said Zionism had misled "some of our sons," but did not elaborate. Anti-Israeli sentiment runs high in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Arab world because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Yikes - when are these guys going to come out of denial? Well, looking on the bright side, he was only "95% sure", which means there's a possibility that 5% of his brain is still functioning.
Regards,
John

ohman · Joined: 09 Sep 2003 Posts: 239 Location: B' Um Fouk, Egypt

Last night two Imams on the English language Saudi station.chatted about this latest attack at Yanbu. I listened for about a half an hour to them agreeing how appalling this and other attacks have been because Muslim brothers are killing innocent Muslim brothers. Then I heard the following which I will qualify as not taken out of context not stated for reactionary purposes:

One Imam said, "when they kill one of their enemies, this is understandable. But they can't be forgiven for killing other Muslims."

The other agreed.

Last week, I listened to a voice over translation of the sermon delivered in the Grand Mosque of Mecca regarding last week's attacks. What was preached there was this line: killing innocent people anywhere is evil, but it is far more evil to kill innocent Muslims."

I left the country because I found myself slipping into a deep, dark place coming home and going to work facing heavy machine guns, shoulder slung sub machine guns and 22mm cannons. All it's going to take is one true believer behind a gun before more ex-pats are off to meet Baby Jesus.Listening to the Royal family's spin is a fool's errand.

We should be paying attention to the Imams. In simplistic class struggle terms, there is the potential to assemble a large guerilla army opposed to the royals. BBC World this morning reported an estimate that this army already numbers in the tens of thousand. Palestine was enver mentioned in this BBC report; what some of the saudi intellgentsia talking heads suggested was that the discontent is based on the disparity in lifestyles. For those who have been in Saudi or are there now, we know what they're talking about. The disparity is between your average farm boy Saudi grunt who earns, what? 1500? 2,000 SR a month, and who is fed buckets of manure every waking moment of his soldier's life (dished out by the wasta endowed officer corps) and the lifestyle of the thousands of princes who live in not one but thousands of Versailles palaces.

Bolshevism did not have as an added incentive Islamic zealotry.

Good luck people and double check your life insurance as some policies won't pay if your in a place considered off limits by the US State department due to conflict.

Bindair Dundat · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Posts: 1123

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

They are targetting McDonalds ? Well let's go to Al-Baik ( a domestic Saudi fast-food chain).

The world is at war. So what is new ? My grandfather's generation witnessed ten million deaths in World War One. My father's saw the global war between the Axis and everyone else.

We are at war - it is just a different kind of war, and no one is quite sure who the enemy is or where he is.

Do you really feel safer in London or NYC than in Saudi Arabia ? I have been working here on and off since 1970 and I have no plans to run.

johnslat · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 12:50 pm Post subject: Appointments in Samarra

Dear scot47,
Well, to be quite honest, I DO feel relatively "safer" in Santa Fe than I did in Riyadh - mainly because, during the months just before I left, 3 drivers of pick-ups (apparently all Saudis) aimed their trucks at me - intending admittedly to scare me, rather than to hit me - 4 times as I was walking to work (one guy made 2 passes). And yes - I'm absolutely sure all these incidents were intentional and not caused by the usual lousy driving. I was the only pedestrian on the otherwise traffic-less back streets and the drivers had to sharply turn their wheels to "aim" at me. I suppose the wise thing to have done would have been to have started taking a taxi to work after the first incident (which was the guy who tried twice), but hey, I never have claimed to be wise - and besides, each time I figured that it was an "isolated case" and very unlikely to recur. Another reason I kept walking was, I guess, that I'm pretty much a fatalist. I figure that when it's your time, you're going to keep that "appointment in Samarra", no matter what, although I can in no way claim this is "rational thinking".
And perhaps that's also why, having said all that, if I were asked whether I'd ever go back, my answer would be: "Sure". Life's risky no matter where you might be, and, quite honestly, I rather enjoy some risk; it spices up what could otherwise be a humdrum existence. That may be a crazy way to think, but I'm stuck with it.
Regards,
John