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Arabia
Irishman shot in Riyadh was warned about religious views
2004-08-10
Anthony Higgins, the Irishman shot dead in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, had been threatened in the past over his failure to acknowledge local customs.
Wouldn't convert, huh?
The civil engineer, who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than two decades, had been warned by local businessmen to play down Catholicism in an Islamic country, friends said this weekend. It is also claimed that Higgins was told to respect the Saudi way of life and its culture. Higgins, 59, who was described as a religious man, had told friends about the threats but they had not thought his life was in danger. Higgins, from Galway, was shot by two gunmen who burst into his office in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday. He was shot four times in the head and the chest with silenced machine pistols.
That's called "civil, well-reasoned discourse" in Muslim countries...
Other members of staff at Rocky for Trade and Construction, where Higgins worked, were not aware of the attack until his body was found slumped behind his desk. He was initially thought to be the victim of an attack by Al Qaeda, but Saudi authorities now suggest a criminal motive is likely. "Although there have been rumours the attack was linked to Al Qaeda, police are also looking at the possibility that it was a criminal act unrelated to terrorism," said a statement from the Saudi embassy in London. Arab News reported sources saying that the execution-style killing was the work of criminals rather than the continuation of a terror campaign against Western expatriates.
Bumping him off for his religion would seem to jump the criminal category and into terrorism...
Posted by:TS(vice girl)

#18  I knew some wives who loved the life: in their compounds the flats came with maids who did everything, while the wives played tennis, slept by the pool, and went shopping for jewelry in the souks. Oh yes, and spent the 3-month summer "back home" with the kids while the husbands stayed behind earning pots of money. Sounds like hell to me, but then I am a member of one of the categories forbidden entry anyway, and would have to remember my lies after I got in -- not one of my strengths, I'm afraid!
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-08-10 22:04  

#17  Now I understand .com!
Will you live longer?
No, but it'll seem longer.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-08-10 20:45  

#16  Naif: Let's say he was a moonshiner.

Naif's asst.: No, your highness. We said that for three years and that cover has been blown.

Naif: Hmm. We need a fallback position. I know. Zionists!! That's the one! Print it up and get it out.
Posted by: Michael   2004-08-10 18:32  

#15  Ship - yep - that was at least. You get breaks here and there, and then some are cancelled out. The real key is that there's just not much to spend money on, eventually. Once you set up your household, paid your phreaking lease for a year in advance (SOS there), all you have to pay for is food & gas. Eating out is actually cheaper than buying US-style stuff at the stores - brands you can identify. Avg about double vs. here for canned goods. Much of it you just can't find. Gas, of course, is incredibly cheap. No life is the key. So, you don't spend money cuz there's damned little to buy. If you concentrate on it, you can save a LOT - I was really packing it away this last tour, and lived like a dog, basically. Choices.
Posted by: .com   2004-08-10 18:28  

#14  Times are tough right now and the supply of 5 years olds is limited, so an imam has to make do as best he can.
Posted by: ed   2004-08-10 18:05  

#13  BH - Easy answer: a LOT! I would estimate that you are at least 30% ahead of same amount in US - and that covers all sorts of factors, from taxes to a lack of shit to spend it on.

Better answer is that there are many different types of expats working there. I've categorized as I saw it in previous posts - and pissed one guy off, though he never responded to my query as to why he was pissed or what his status was.

Some people are "trapped" - they are on the lamb... from the IRS, some judge's alimony order, whatever. Some are technically incompetent and can't compete in the West, etc. If you can stomach living in a shithole - and there's a HUGE difference between being an Aramcon living in the Camp and being a contractor who has to find his own digs "out in the shit" - and willing to live as cheeeeeep as possible, you can pay off a mortgage, put kids through college, build a retirement fund (needed by most after 2000 crash & 9/11 etc. devastation of 401K's & IRA's), etc in a concerted stint cutting out having "a life". Every guy I knew there had a very specific plan - the 2000 crash set many back a year or three - and hopes to complete it. Many are now leaving, though, and accepting that the gig is up.
Posted by: .com   2004-08-10 16:06  

#12  Ok,so does this mean that if I see an Imam preaching in the park I can shoot his ass.After all he was disrespecting our culture and way of life.
Posted by: Raptor   2004-08-10 15:52  

#11  Rocky for Trade and Construction...Bullwinkle for Barter and Building
Posted by: remote man   2004-08-10 13:06  

#10  I'm just curious: how much money do they have to pay someone to live and work in a shithole like Saudi Arabia? Seriously, how bad does life at home have to get before you start thinking, "Gee, that doesn't sound too bad"?
Posted by: BH   2004-08-10 10:01  

#9  shot twice in the head and the gun's gone. Pretty obviously an alk-runner suicide, right, Naif?
Posted by: Frank G   2004-08-10 09:33  

#8  Where's the outrge from the left?

After all - where you to switch the words "Moslem" and Catholic they'd be up in arms.

Oh thats right, its perfectly acceptable for them to piss on us Catholics - after all the left does it all the time.
Posted by: Oldspook   2004-08-10 09:11  

#7  failure to acknowledge local customs
Then do muslims have to acknowledge local customs when they immigrate to the US or Europe, huh, huh, huh?
Posted by: Spot   2004-08-10 09:07  

#6  Yeah, well, you know them Irish. They like their tea...wink, wink.
Posted by: tu3031   2004-08-10 09:04  

#5  "Higgins was told to respect the Saudi way of life and culture". Higgins was..."threatened in the past for his failure to acknowledge local custom". Higgins was told..."to downplay his Catholicism".

Obviously the man was murdered for being insufficiently "dhimmi". One must remember the local customs of Arabia: Assume the status of second class person upon entering the Kingdom least the tolerant members of the ROP take offense.

What's the spin from the Kingdom? Higgins was running Irish whiskey and that led to his murder?
Posted by: Mark   2004-08-10 06:18  

#4  Other members of staff at Rocky for Trade and Construction, where Higgins worked, were not aware of the attack until his body was found slumped behind his desk.

So...how do they know there were two gunnies?
Posted by: mojo   2004-08-10 03:53  

#3   Higgins, from Galway, was shot by two gunmen who burst into his office in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday.

I'm thinkin' "alk runners"...
Posted by: mojo   2004-08-10 03:51  

#2  Shot him in the head ya say!
Posted by: Lucky   2004-08-10 02:36  

#1  It is also claimed that Higgins was told to respect the Saudi way of life and its culture. Higgins, 59, who was described as a religious man, had told friends about the threats but they had not thought his life was in danger.

Most of us would have reevaluated our danger estimate whaen they began be-heading the ex-pats.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-08-10 01:39  

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