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| Arabia |
| U.S. Closing Embassy in Saudi Arabia |
| 2003-11-07 |
| The U.S. Embassy will close its offices to review security procedures on Saturday, while embassy officials said terrorists are close to launching an attack in the desert kingdom. The embassy in Riyadh and the U.S. Consulates General in Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed, according to a warden message issued by the embassy on Friday. "The embassy continues to receive credible information that terrorists in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned attacks in the kingdom," stated the message. "The embassy strongly urges all American citizens in the kingdom to be especially vigilant when in any area that is perceived to be American or Western." Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a warning to journalists in Afghanistan on Friday. "The United States Embassy in Kabul has received credible information that Taliban (search) forces are actively searching for American journalists to take hostage for use as leverage for the release of Taliban currently under United States control," the embassy statement said. "American journalists in Afghanistan are urged to take immediate steps to increase their security posture in light of these threats." I don’t remember this happening before, even in the runup to the war. |
| Posted by:Laurence of the Rats |
| #10 Since the Embassy does nothing to help American citizens trapped in the Kingdom, and are clearly so lazy at visa processesing that they subcontracted out to travel agents in Riyahd prior to 9/11 I'm not really sure why we even bother to keep an embassy in Saudi Arabia these days. Anything the governments need to say can go through Prince Bandar in Washington. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-11-7 8:00:52 PM |
| #9 Just FYI- Closing the Embassy / Consulates for a short time (1-5 days) isn't big news. About 18 months ago there were a spate of bombings. Most were "solved" by locking up all those Brits and Canadians who have claimed torture lately - and I don't doubt them. Supposedly it was bad blood turf shit over illegal Sidikki / homebrew trade. But a couple were premature jihadi types - one moron blew himself up in Al Khobar, killing one American, one Brit, and two Phillipinos. This happened in the same block as my favorite Thai restuarant - where we went every Wednesday. There were several other events (rioting in Bahrain, street incidents between young Saudis and expats, rumors, even a street "demonstration" broken up with gunfire by Nat'l Police in Dhahran) over the last 18 months - every time there was a threat or an event - the Dhahran Consulate closed - and they all skedaddled to Bahrain - even when there was rioting at the US Embassy there. The point is that they are totally fucking useless. If anything happens, they are the first to know, besides any victims, and the first to evacuate. US citizens are left to fend for themselves. Your tax dollars - in full fright flight. |
| Posted by: .com (RoPMA) 2003-11-7 5:48:48 PM |
| #8 "..American journalists in Afghanistan are urged to take immediate steps to increase their security posture in light of these threats." I would add the following: "As of the issuing of this advisory, any American journalist(s) who persists in continuing in activities without taking adequate precautions and who subsequently fall into the hands of hostile captors cannot expect the U.S. government or its official intermediaries to seek his/her/their release via negotiation or armed rescue." |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-11-7 4:47:07 PM |
| #7 Could we send the Taliban our wish list? It's kinda long.... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-11-7 4:45:20 PM |
| #6 They could have Peter Arnett..... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2003-11-7 4:03:12 PM |
| #5 Kidnapping journalists? Their allies? "The Ransom of Red Chief" sprang into my head. |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2003-11-7 3:53:50 PM |
| #4 Steve---The Jihadis will call Petey for an interview after they kidnap the other journalists. Then they have a forum for their activities (*testing, testing, one, two, three, is this mike working OK?*) |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-11-7 3:29:31 PM |
| #3 Taliban forces are actively searching for American journalists to take hostage for use as leverage Snicker, where's Peter Jennings these days? |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-11-7 3:20:21 PM |
| #2 It sounds like the boomers and Jihadis desperately need a show or even they realize that they are on the big graveyard spiral to irrelevance or impotence. I hope that the Iraq/Syria-Saudi border wacking is true and I hope that they keep it up. Some Iran/Iraq wack should also be taking place, too. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-11-7 3:10:53 PM |
| #1 We're not seriously considering re-opening it, are we? |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2003-11-7 2:50:34 PM |