'Your relative killed children,' said the Crown Prince. 'He killed women.' I noticed that one man was sweating under his headdress despite the arctic air-conditioning.
Dear friend, the world is changing, the ‘war on terror’ is in full gear and many 'enlightened converts' are part of this new campaign on terror, street battles in Gujrat the home town of Pakistani PM last night where 12 were nabbed is one loud sign the other one Prince Abdullah rebuking tribal heads, this war could not have been fought any other way, I feel disgusted when I see people saying that ‘nothing has changed’ since 911. Rather the entire infrastructure of Alqaeda is on the run or under arrest, imagine if the war did not have this dimension and Saudis and Pakistanis were not coerced into change of hearts whatever way it was. Today the ability to conduct a big simultaneous operation is very much undermined however the vigilance and continued intelligence and ability to take the war on their door step has to be maintained, the thrust needs to be preserved and news like this are heart delight..
<Jabbing his finger, he told them to go back to their mosques and madrassas and to rein in the firebrand imams who preach messages of hate for infidels. Next to show up was a flock of tribal heads from the al-Shabbanat family, looking nervously at the carpet and bowing their heads in shame. A family member was a terrorist, it emerged, involved in bombing a compound housing foreign workers.
'Your relative killed children,' said the Crown Prince. 'He killed women.' I noticed that one man was sweating under his headdress despite the arctic air-conditioning. 'But you are not responsible, and I know you follow the true path of Islam,' the Prince concluded. The Shabbanats rushed forward in relief, kneeling and kissing the royal gown.>,
It's an invitation you don't decline: 'Saudi Arabia's ruler wants to meet you'
By Tim Marshall
(Filed: 25/07/2004)
Saudi television homed in for a close-up on Crown Prince Abdullah's honoured guest. It was me, sitting in the royal palace in Jeddah just three seats from the Saudi Arabian ruler - a deliberate act of protocol that sent a clear message to the 22 million subjects he rules with absolute authority: 'The westerners are our friends. Stop killing them.'
In the evening, I watched the main news bulletin. There I was, sipping on a tiny cup of coffee - and there was Crown Prince Abdullah, sharply lecturing first some senior clerics and then a group of professors, lined up before him in a room half the size of a football pitch.
Jabbing his finger, he told them to go back to their mosques and madrassas and to rein in the firebrand imams who preach messages of hate for infidels. Next to show up was a flock of tribal heads from the al-Shabbanat family, looking nervously at the carpet and bowing their heads in shame. A family member was a terrorist, it emerged, involved in bombing a compound housing foreign workers.
'Your relative killed children,' said the Crown Prince. 'He killed women.' I noticed that one man was sweating under his headdress despite the arctic air-conditioning. 'But you are not responsible, and I know you follow the true path of Islam,' the Prince concluded. The Shabbanats rushed forward in relief, kneeling and kissing the royal gown.
It's an invitation that you don't often hear, and one you would not decline: 'The Crown Prince would like to meet you.' I stepped forward and shook his hand as he gave assurances that he would do all he could to ensure the safety of the British and Americans. If the westerners leave, of course, the kingdom's economy threatens to implode over the next three to five years.
A British friend in Riyadh has become a master of disguise. For the first time in his life, he has grown a beard, a goatee trimmed in the Saudi style. Sporting sunglasses matching his dark hair and wearing an Arab gown, he could almost pass for a local - handy in these parts, these days.
My friend dons his disguise for the drive to work past checkpoints, armoured vehicles and soldiers with machineguns. A quick change at his office and he is once more a senior executive at one of the companies keeping this country afloat.
This is how the expats live now. They vary their routes, and the time at which they drive to and from work. Emerging from supermarkets, they check their cars: a deadly chalk symbol marks it out as a westerner's vehicle.
The expats were already nervous after the first compound bombing in May last year; after last month's kidnap and beheading of Paul Johnson, the US defence contractor, they began to leave in a trickle of Brits, a stream of Americans.
Only the Saudi authorities know the precise figures, but anecdotal evidence suggests that about 15 per cent of the approximately 100,000 western workers have gone. A truer picture will emerge only in late September when those who have escaped the summer heat should be returning to their jobs.
Mr Johnson's death was followed by the fatal shooting of the BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers in an al-Qaeda attack that left its security correspondent, Frank Gardner, gravely wounded. I went to the place where they were shot, driven there by the same man who had gone with them last month. It was an emotional trip, the driver in tears as he relived the horror of that day.
I had worked with Simon and will never forget his smile, but during our 10 minutes at the scene I was also thinking about my safety. Where was the police escort I had insisted accompany us? 'Oh, they are around,' replied the unarmed National Guard officer with us. 'We will call them if anything happens.' 'Great,' I thought. 'Before or after they shoot us?' We left.
This seemed only too typical of the Saudi security apparatus. Its forces lack training and discipline. My hotel had an armoured car stationed at the front, but you could also enter via a shopping centre which did not have a metal detector.
Under the noses of armed guards, I managed to smuggle a large television camera into an expat compound: it wasn't a lethal weapon, but it could have been. Mr Johnson, meanwhile, was snatched by a gang which had obtained police uniforms and set up a fake road block.
But credit is also due. The government has taken the war to the terrorists. Saudi special forces killed the al-Qaeda leader in the kingdom earlier this year and then went after his successor. Last month, Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin was killed after a gun battle in which 800 rounds were fired. Last week, two more terrorists were killed in a four-hour operation involving 100 police and army vehicles. When their hideout was searched, Mr Johnson's severed head was found in a freezer.
On one level, the expats were as relieved as Crown Prince Abdullah must have been by this further victory in the war on terror: last week's raid came just days after my audience with the Saudi ruler. And yet the grisly trophy in the freezer reminded the expats of their private fear, as they struggle with the dilemma of whether to stay or go: the thought, 'It could have been me'.
Tim Marshall is Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor |
