Saudis in Iraq 'preparing for a holy war'...

[cantwealljustgetalong]

Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned.

A senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was "extremely worrying".

A statement purportedly from al-Qaeda was broadcast on Monday by the Arab satellite television channel al-Arabiya. It claimed the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the leader of the Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime Mullah Mohammed Omar were still alive. But it also asserted that recent attacks on US forces in Iraq were the work of jihadis.

...

According to Saad al-Faguih, a UK-based Saudi dissident, the Saudi authorities are concerned that up to 3,000 Saudi men have gone "missing" in the kingdom in two months, although it is not clear how many have crossed into Iraq.

Saudis who have gone to Iraq have established links with sympathetic Iraqis in the northern area between Baghdad, Mosul and Tikrit, where they have hidden in safe-houses, a Saudi Islamist source said on Monday.

...

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059479098570&p=1012571727088

[maxsolomon]

1. who's minding the borders?

i keep hearing that the road from damascus is rife with jihaddis.

seems like that's a good place to start clamping down on 'tourism'.

[alcuno]

3. Who needs a road? Won't a camel do the trick?

We can't secure our own borders and our concern is Mexicans and those pesky Canadians. Can you imagine having fighters from Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia all trying to come in? Yikes!

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. The difference is that the US

has not even secured the regular border crossings since we took over. It's been a free for all, for anyone wanting to go in and out of Iraq.

[alcuno]

6. "Bring 'Em On"

said our fearless commander from behind his SS detail.

[JackSwift]

7. Even a skilled desert native

would by more or less crazy to try to do the desert in the dead of summer with a camel. How many still have those kinds of skills? It's 120 in Bagdad with a river running through it. How hot is it on the Saudi/Iraq border further south? I wouldn't want to guess, but the record 30 years ago used to be 139 and the world is a hotter place.

[indictrichardperle]

2. demonize saudi arabia

they have lots of oil and the neo-cons hate them.

The Saudi govt has hundreds of billions of dollars invested in our country, keep it up Perle and Ledeen.....

[zekeson]

5. Another Victory for *

He promsied to be a uniter and this is certainly representation that he was good to his word. Never before have so many Islamics banded together for one purposel. Kinda sucks that its to wipe the infidel Americans off the face of the earth, but hey, he didn't say exactly how he would unite...
:eyes:

[Barrett808]

8. Fleeing to Iraq

"The subsequent arrest of many Islamists has forced some underground while others are trying to flee to Iraq."

Fleeing to Iraq. How unbelievable is that?

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Why is it so unbelievable?

"Fleeing to Iraq. How unbelievable is that?"

This points up a big problem for the West. The US is lost in that region and can't correctly predict what reactions will be based on expectation.

Notice that the whole eventual Islamic Fundamentalist takeover issue is being avoided by the regime - never mentioned by simple simian - because it is so terrible and so completely inevitable that they have no answer for it. The basic problem that is revealing itself is :
Either A: we fully accept the role as Imperial occupiers ( the present course) or B: Abandon the place altogether to the Clerics or Warlords, or C: Relinquish control to the UN or some other multination arrangement.

If history is any indicator of the future, we will continue with A until the there is nothing left to give (including the collective national attention span) and then we will move on quickly to B.

[DeathvadeR]

9. Good

Personally, I'm for the whole region to bind togeather and demand that US and British forces leave the area. You don't help people by invading and killing them, occupying and controling them and stealing from them. It's cruel,idiotic and ludicris.

[QuietStorm]

11. Oh yes that reminds me...

Baghdad Clerics Decry a U.S. 'War Against Islam'

Shiites warn troops to stay out of district

Robyn Dixon
Los Angeles Times
Aug. 16, 2003 12:00 AM

BAGHDAD - Shiite Muslim clerics in a poor neighborhood of northeast Baghdad said Friday that the U.S. military had declared war against Islam and warned U.S. forces to stay out of the district, where U.S. troops opened fire on a crowd this week.

Tens of thousands of worshipers carrying religious banners gathered at Friday prayers in the center of the slum, sending a powerful signal about the level of anger in the community over Wednesday's shootout between protesters and troops, which occurred after a U.S. helicopter dislodged a religious banner from a tower.

"America and Zionism have declared war against Islam and its sanctuary. That is why one of their helicopters tried to remove the banner of righteousness," Sheik Abdul-Hadi Darraji told the crowd before prayers.

"I call on everybody to condemn this flagrant aggression of this sacred place."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0816iraq16.html

This was in print today btw

here is the original article for those that are registered.

http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-iraq16aug16,1,228205.story

[QuietStorm]

12. how about this bit of counterpoint from the Ayn Rand Institute

A War against Islam
snip
The evils of dogmatism and religious tyranny are endemic to Islamic culture — and our evasion of this fact is making a mockery of the War on Terrorism. Consider the demands to halt the Afghan campaign during the holy month of Ramadan — an attempt to make our leaders obey the decrees of their Mullahs. Or look at our shameful betrayal of Israel, an open attempt to sacrifice the Jews to appease the religious hatred of the Muslims. And worse, our refusal to recognize Islam as the enemy is preventing us from waging a wider war against all Islamic terrorist states.
If we want to win this war, we must begin by recognizing that it is a war against Islam — or to be more exact, this is Islamic fundamentalism's war against the "infidel" secularism of the West. Our goal in this war should be to beat down, to curtail, to drive out Islamic fundamentalism — not to replace it with our own religion, but to force Islam, like the religions of the civilized world, to lay down its arms and accept the freedom of a secular society.

read on....
http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/columns/rt102901.shtml

Yes and who is appeasing those saudi royals and how will they be appeased? Or should I say can they be appeased with OPEC hanging in the balance. Seems carlyle has a bit of quick thinking to do. Heads up I feel a storm coming on hmmmm :nuke: Question is who will be the one to drop it?

Then again these chicken hawks they do like those games of chicken. At least I hope.