OT: Saudis Offer Militants One-Month Amnesty

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

This gives us an idea of what we are facing. The Saudi government is

walking on egg shells .. balancing self preservation and the demands of

the Western world. They must stop the Wahabi mentality from spreading

but its not easy as they have used Islam as a base for control of their

people since the beginning of the House of Saud. Suggestions to be nice

rolls off the backs of religious leaders like water off a duck and they

have little room to enforce demands because they have long ago placed

such leaders on pedestals.

 

Basically .. they are between a rock and a hard place. Butch

 

Saudis Offer Militants One-Month Amnesty

By SALAH NASRAWI

06/23/04 20:33

 

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia offered Islamic militants a

limited amnesty Wednesday, saying their lives would be spared if they

surrendered but they would face the " full might " of state wrath if they

did not.

 

The ultimatum, issued in the name of King Fahd, called on militants to

turn themselves in within a month - suggesting the kingdom was paving

the way for a stepped up campaign against al-Qaida-linked fighters who

have shaken the country with a series of deadly attacks.

 

At the same time, the Saudi foreign minister denounced calls by militant

clergy for Saudis to travel to Iraq to join insurgents battling the U.S.

military and its Iraqi allies.

 

(MY NOTE: Denounced .. that is all they can do. The clergy is openly

defying the King and his government)

 

Some have said that at least one of the guerrillas who killed and

beheaded a South Korean hostage in Iraq this week may be Saudi, since

the guerrilla spoke Arabic in what seemed to be a Saudi dialect.

 

(MY NOTE: Osama Yo Mama is Saudi .. most of those involved in 9/11 were

Saudi and the birth and present base of al-Qaida is Saudi.)

 

The ultimatum was read by Crown Prince Abdullah, the king's half brother

and the country's de facto ruler, using some of the fiercest language

yet against militants.

 

(MY NOTE: I'm sure the terrorists are quaking in their boots.)

 

Abdullah said the offer was open to anyone who has not yet been

" arrested for carrying out terrorist acts. "

 

(MY NOTE: For years I watched the Turkish government offer amnesty to

terrorist members of Abdullah (Apo) Ocalan's Marxist Leninist Terrorist

Group, PKK .. it brings in the cooks and bottle washers but NEVER did a

single important person turn themselves in .. I expect the same here.)

 

" We are opening the door of amnesty ... to everyone who deviated from

the path of right and committed a crime in the name of religion, " the

crown prince said.

 

(MY NOTE: The above phrasing makes it sound as if they have committed a

naughty naughty and need counseling .. by whom? The ones who sent them

on the path in the first place .. the extremist Wahabi clergy.)

 

" We swear by God that nothing will prevent us from striking with our

full might, which we derive from relying on God, " Abdullah said.

 

(MY NOTE: So God is on their side too .. interesting.)

 

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher refused to

comment on the Saudi amnesty offer, saying, " This is a decision for the

Saudi government to make. "

 

(MY NOTE: DipSpeak for .. We think its a stupid idea.)

 

Under the amnesty, only those who committed acts that hurt others would

be prosecuted, and no one who turns himself in would face the death penalty.

 

Over the past year, as attacks in the country increased, the Saudi

government has frequently urged Saudis to reject Islamic militant

ideology, bringing " repentant " militant leaders onto state-run

television to denounce violence.

 

(MY NOTE: Much like an American Indian War Chief trying to hold back

young braves he had trained to be warriors. Once the dogs of war are

loosed its hard to call them back.)

 

But the beheading of American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., who was

kidnapped in Riyadh on June 12, brought a vicious new edge to the

attacks - and heightened fears that the violence could drive out

American and other Western workers vital to Saudi Arabia's oil and other

industries.

 

(MY NOTE: That .. is their main concern. They need the West .. without

Western technology they are just sitting on black stuff covered by sand

and it does them no good .. and they fear al-Qaida will take over and

deny them (and the West) the use of that black stuff.)

 

Two other Americans and an Irish citizen were killed in the kingdom in

the week before Johnson's slaying.

 

The wave of violence in Saudi Arabia began May 12, 2003, when car bombs

targeted three compounds housing foreign workers, killing 35 people,

including nine suicide bombers. Since then, the kingdom has suffered a

series of suicide bombings, gunbattles and kidnappings.

 

The attacks have been blamed on al-Qaida and sympathizers of the terror

network.

 

Hours after Johnson's death was announced Friday, Saudi security forces

killed the alleged head of the cell that kidnapped him, Abdulaziz

al-Moqrin, the suspected top al-Qaida figure in Saudi Arabia, in a

gunbattle in Riyadh.

 

Saudi officials touted al-Moqrin's death as a blow to Osama bin Laden's

al-Qaida network in the kingdom - but they acknowledged that other cells

likely remain. Bin Laden is a Saudi exile.

 

Also Wednesday, Foreign Minister Prince Saud condemned the beheading of

the South Korean hostage, Kim Sun-il, whom militants had kidnapped in Iraq.

 

His slaying proves " terrorism has no conscience ... These people have no

human values, they are far away from Islam, " the foreign minister said.

 

(MY NOTE: This is true .. Islam does not condone such actions .. but

the Wahabi Sect has always followed their interpretation of Islam.)

 

In a videotape of the South Korean hostage, a kidnapper spoke with an

Arabic accent that suggested he was from Saudi Arabia or a neighboring

Gulf Arab state.

 

At a news conference Wednesday, Saud said calls for Saudis to wage holy

war in Iraq were illegitimate and that the kingdom would not permit its

citizens to go to the neighboring state to fight the U.S.-led forces.

 

(MY NOTE: They are illegitimate .. but its hard to make them illegal

because laws without enforcement cause lack of credibility and loss of

face for those who make the laws. Trying to stop folks from crossing

borders in the desert is like trying to herd cats.)

 

Saudi newspapers have published obituaries and reports of funerals for

Saudis who are said to have died fighting the occupying forces in Iraq.

 

(MY NOTE: This is legitimization .. of a sort.)

 

" We don't allow that, " Saud said when asked about Saudis fighting in Iraq.

 

(MY NOTE: But they do allow it .. they can't stop it.)

 

" Why should people go to Iraq for a holy war? Iraq is a Muslim country

and the only religious duty in Iraq should be to help the Iraqi people.

Any call for holy war (in Iraq) is illegitimate. "

 

(MY NOTE: The term Jihad is a Saudi (Arabic) word .. that is why.)

 

He did not say what measures the kingdom was taking to stop Saudis from

going to Iraq to fight.

 

(MY NOTE: Nor do I expect to see any such measures enforced. I do not

believe the Saudi government has the Will or the Power to stop Islamic

Terrorists .. and I do not believe the UN Security Council will accept a

need for military assistance to the Kingdom as a viable option. If I am

right .. this leaves the Western countries, whose citizens are targeted,

few options .. besides a Joint Effort to combat Global Terrorism. This

Islamic movement did not begin on 9/11 .. it began more than 30 years

prior to 9/11 .. its just now becoming more active and more visible.)

 

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