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| Arabia |
| Kuwaiti Said to Admit Shooting Americans |
| 2003-01-24 |
| A young Kuwaiti man who fled to Saudi Arabia after a terrorist shooting here on Tuesday that killed one American and wounded another has confessed to the attack, Kuwait's Interior Ministry said tonight. Kuwait security officials identified the man, who was turned over by the Saudi border guards, as Sami Mohammed Marzouq Obeid al-Mutairi, 25. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that he had confessed "to the crime of assassinating the American citizen and injuring another." Don't have to waste all that time on a trial then. Police officials said they would probably take him to the scene of the shooting near the main United States military base here, Camp Doha, to re-enact the shooting as part of their investigation. They said Mr. Mutairi was one of several suspects. Earlier, Kuwaiti security officials said Mr. Mutairi was an employee of Kuwait's Department of Social Affairs. An Islamic Social Worker, that explains the automatic weapons. He was described as an Islamic activist who had tried unsuccessfully to enter Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks and who had been questioned a number of times by Kuwaiti security authorities for possible links to Osama bin Laden's network. Kuwait's official news agency said that Mr. Mutairi acknowledged that he was a believer "in the ideas of the Qaeda organization" after he was extradited by the Saudis. The ministry statement said that the Kalashnikov automatic rifle used in the attack and a quantity of ammunition were found hidden in Mr. Mutairi's "place of work" and had been confiscated. Word of Mr. Mutairi's detention first came from Saudi Arabia, where border authorities had detained him as he tried to enter the country late Tuesday or early Wednesday. His flight to the Saudi frontier was detected when Kuwaiti security services conducted a dragnet for known Qaeda sympathizers after the shooting Tuesday. In this case "Round up the usual suspects" is the correct tactic. However, keeping the usual suspects in a cage would most likely have been a better move. They rounded up 60 to 70 people and in so doing learned that Mr. Mutairi had left his home for Saudi Arabia three hours after the assault, which took place at 9:15 a.m. His white pickup truck was also said to have matched a description given by some witnesses of a vehicle that fled the scene of the attack. These guys need to watch more American TV. Then they would know you steal a car just before the hit and use that for the getaway. The Bali and Kenyan bombers used their own cars and they were traced right back to them. An official of the Saudi Interior Ministry told the Saudi news agency that a preliminary investigation at the border had shown that Mr. Mutairi had fired a Kalashnikov rifle that killed Michael Rene Pouliot, 46, and wounded David John Caraway, 37, in a hail of bullets Tuesday morning as the two civilian defense contractors were driving to Camp Doha, just north of here. The Saudi authorities granted an extradition request by Kuwait and turned Mr. Mutairi over on Wednesday. It was unclear from the Saudi account how the Saudi authorities knew Mr. Mutairi had fired the weapon used in the attack. Hummmm, prior knowledge, perhaps? Or did he roll up to the border and when the border guard asked "Reason for visiting Saudi?" he said "Just banged two Merkin's, can I come in?" Kuwaiti officials did not say tonight what charges would be filed against Mr. Mutairi. Murder and terrorism sounds about right. Off with his head. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Boy, this Saudi-Kuwaiti extradition protocol is one streamlined document! May we borrow it and use it as a shell for some of our own? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-01-24 13:54:03 |
| #2 Hey, I'm just respecting his religion! |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-01-24 13:27:43 |
| #1 "Off with his head." Oh, that's so Islamic! |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-01-24 12:44:48 |