Saudi horror sparks fear of oil crisis

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,11599,1228004,00.html

Militants hold 50 hostages · £4 gallon looms as battle rages

Nick Mathiason and Mark Townsend
Sunday May 30, 2004
The Observer

Oil prices are set to surge after al-Qaeda gunmen killed at least 16 people, including a Briton, and seized 50 hostages yesterday during an indiscriminate rampage through the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar.
In a day that left the oil city, in the east of the country, littered with bodies and bullet-riddled buildings and cars, the terrorists attacked four compounds housing foreign workers, seized American and Italian hostages and fought running battles through the streets.

The body of the Briton, named locally as Michael Hamilton, an employee of the Middle East oil company Apicorp, was tied to a car and dragged more than a mile before being dumped near a bridge, according to witnesses.

Late last night an armed siege was developing, with suspected Islamic militants holding the hostages on the sixth floor of Oasis, a high-rise expatriate housing complex. Most of the captives were said to be Italian and the rest Americans and Arab Christians.

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[Spoon]

1. No doubt about it.

The silver lining is that this happened on a holiday weekend. If it was yesterday, oil would be pushing $60 a barrel, or even higher. This happened at the "Nerve Center".

[Straight Shooter]

2. I would guess the cost of protection alone will raise the prices

There's going to be some hard bargaining in the future, bush.

[Dover]

23. ..and the American taxpayer is paying both for the security AND the

price at the pump. Double whammy.

[goforit]

3. The whole world is against ....IMPERIALISM!!!...(Saudi Monarchs too)

Could the Oil crises bring on a world DEPRESSION that is
magnified???

[havocmom]

4. So Bin Laden wanted the US military out of Saudi Arabia for more than

purely ideological reasons? He wanted no strong military presence in the way when the Saudi civil war got under way. Ah, the son of an oil family involving the whole world in his family snit and rebellion or what? And the all hat, no cowboy pResident gave into terrorists and pulled the US military out of Saudi Arabia as per al-Quada demands.

Yeah, Rumsfeld, going after a safely contained Saddam was so much more important than utilizing all the resources to round up al-Qaeda!

When do we hold the treason trials for the idiots in the Cheney/Rusmfeld junta?

[ronatchig]

8. Their plan is exposed,

big time, Move Regular Army out to get Saddam, move in irregulars (Al Queda)to destabilize House of Saud, move regulars back in, gain de facto control of Saudi Arabia, Rule the World.
Sorry Georgi pooh not for you.

[Pallas180]

13. I was thinking same thing. he kept the army close by didnt he.

.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. What makes you think...

...that Saudis would welcome US occupation any more than Iraqis?

[countmyvote4real]

21. Suckers! You nailed it, havocmom.

I don't have the credentials to be in a political or strategic think tank. I'd rather explore other endeavors. But come on now. The Bush* administration is whacked when it comes to thinking about the consequences of their actions.

After 9/11, our country and the world recognized that we all had a real terrorist threat. Our best intelligence pointed to OBL in Afghanistan. And while Iraq under Saddam was a dawg, it was a sleeping or contained dog that had nothing to do with AQ. (On a side note: AQ means al-Quada or whatever English spelling is currently most popular.)

It was an unnecessary diversion. That is an understatement that compounds and multiplies itself daily by the unrelenting human carnage on all sides. WTF were and are they thinking? Oops, wrong verb tense there. It implies that they process a thought to a logical conclusion.

Maybe that's the difference in being pragmatic vs. greedy when taking the helm of our country and directing where we go. The Bush* course, whether deliberate or incompetent, just seems to steer us into further world chaos. For that alone they should be tried and held accountable. But on the domestic front, they can’t defend themselves on being duped by bad intelligence. Yes, it was stupid to lie, dissemble and misrepresent policy to Congress and the American people. They were challenged to reveal their consultants and substantiate their policies on many occasions, but they cloaked their decisions under executive privilege and did it anyway.

They didn’t do it alone. They snookered the Congress. They sent false news reports to the media. They bought that media with favorable consolidation rulings from the FCC. Actually, the media bought the FCC with contributions to the Bush* campaign. So who is zooming whom? It’s not who is being zoomed, but what. And that “what” is the “truth.”

It’s kind of like their misguided and belligerent foreign policy, but the U.N. got a zooming dog and pony show starring the formerly esteemed Colin Powell. So, who gets to bust them first? More important, will anybody get them before they destroy us all?

Sorry, that my props to havocmom turned into a rant.

[havocmom]

22. Rant away! It's sorta like when musicians get together to jam

sometimes some great stuff comes out of the group playing together.

I do strongly feel that Kerry and all the Dems running this year need to make it a major talking point that, by pulling the troops out of SA, the current administration did exactly what Bin Laden demanded they do and that is giving in to terrorists!

This point, bush* pulled US troops from SA, as per Bin Laden's demands, needs to be pounded home each and every time a neocon does any of the following:
Insinuates Dems are weak on defense.
Insinuates that al Queda wants Kerry to win.
Insinuates that the invasion of Iraq was an effort to fight terrorism.
Tries to take ANY credit for fighting terrorism.
Tries to take ANY credit for making us safer.
Tries to promote the hogwash that the Republican Party is the party of
responsibility.
Tries to divert attention with silly shit like 'pResident Bush* wants to stomp out illegible prescriptions'.

Bin Laden demanded the US remove it's troops from Saudi Arabia, and Bush* complied. Bush* isn't fighting terrorists, he is taking orders from them

[countmyvote4real]

25. Bush* isn't fighting terrorists, he is taking orders from them

That should be the headline.

Damn, you rock!

[dmkinsey]

5. this totally re-emphasizes

how completely and stupidly wrong the * policy in the middle-east has been.
This administration claimed the "regime change" in Iraq would lead to a more STABLE situation in the region and LOWER oil prices.

What we have is stronger terrorists able to operate more freely.

Don't forget- they hate us because of our freedom.

DaveK

[qwertyMike]

17. Stay the course

We have a plan.
Tune in for next Monday's installment

[cal04]

6. A statement from the Al-Quds Brigade

A statement from the Al-Quds Brigade, a group allegedly aligned with Al-Qaida-linked group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The message said Americans would not be allowed to steal Saudi Arabia's riches. The translation of that statement will be available here shortly, inshaAllah.

BBC Middle East correspondent Paul Wood says that with oil at more than $40 a barrel, the attack is bad news for the world's economy. He adds that by terrifying foreign workers in the oil industry, the militants are also undermining the ruling Saudi royal family - one of Al-Qaida’s stated aims.

[soothsayer]

7. I guess OPEC et al want the prices to stay high

This puts an end to the "gas prices will soon fall, and quickly, and many oil speculators will lose alot of money" that WTOP radio here in DC was crowing about "exclusively" last night (with a Saudi spokesman of some kind)

[scsifreak]

19. Actually, OPEC desires low oil prices.

Most OPEC producers, especially Saudi Arabia (which has 30% of OPEC's share) actually desires *low* oil prices. At high prices, suddenly producers with large marginal extraction costs suddenly become viable and more sources of oil flood the market diminishing OPEC's overall marketshare. Without marketshare, high prices aren't much of a consolation.

OPEC went from a peak of 68% of the world oil market in 1973 to a little over 30% today. IPEC is providing the bulk of the world's oil. In fact, Russian production can easily exceed Saudi capacity; all they need is higher oil prices to cover extraction costs. And the Saudis know it.

So, how to keep them out of the market? Easy. Get the price of oil to drop and they recoup marketshare.

No one can tell me that there is no collusion in the oil industry. OPEC is 2 million barrels per day over it's self-imposed quota and Russian oil production has increased by a whopping 30% over the last year. What we have here is large institutional dealers wearing three-piece suits in NYC, capitalizing on fear, and trying to get people to blame towelheads. You cry at the pump and they laugh all the way to the bank...

Mark my words: you don't need a terrorist attack in the USA to influence an election in the USA. Just hit the Saudi area and let oil do it for you.

[evworldeditor]

9. "60 Days One Summer" An All Too Real Scenario

Chip Haynes recently wrote and narrated a 25-minute "diary" of what might happen when Saudi Arabia descends into civil war.

Here's the URL to the MP3 file on EVWorld.com

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=article&storyid=695

[daleo]

10. I wonder if that one-legged Zaquarri fellow was in on this one

I probably misspelled the name, but I mean the one that pops up and claims credit for everything under the sun, according to the CIA (for example, the Berg murder).

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

18. Zarqawi

He's been around for a while. While he may be a convienient villian, he's still a villain...

Wikipedia article on Ansar al-Islam:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansar_al-Islam

Wikipedia article on Zarqawi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Musab_al-Zarqawi

[cliss]

11. Methinks this is getting very interesting.....

We know that the Saudi Royal family has A LOT of enemies. They are basically holding the country of Saudi Arabia hostage. They are cruel dictators; known to be one of the world's worst. (and these are our friends?) At least, friends with Bush.

So now the political situation is getting very unstable in that country. The US pulled out its troops because it was a huge problem for the Saudis.

In the meantime, Bush the Charmer has caused the Middle East to become more unstable because of Iraq. More than 18,000 new recruits have signed up to Al-Qaida.

My advice: follow this story closely. It could be a powderkeg. Fill up your gas tank. Don't drive if you can avoid it.

[ILeft]

12. Dubya's got a plan. No need to worry. Plus, he's got Condi...

...and Rummy and Dick and Wolfie advising him.

What I really want to know, though, is: is this part of the plan or is this because of the plan??? Just morbid curiosity.

[Pallas180]

14. Since dimson has the US army fighting on two fronts and stretched

in Afghansitan and Iraq, you can count on the draft for the army he'll put in Saudi Arabia.

The middle east is on fire, figuratively, and literally likely will soon be.

[ILeft]

15. How long will that take? Answer: Too long.

This pResident has put our country in danger of complete collapse through his lies and utter incompetence. Is there any doubt about that any more? Congress??? Hello???

[SandyUSA]

20. Read what Saudi Arabian news is saying now

Here is a link to the front page of Arab News:

http://www.arabnews.com

[despairing optimist]

24. Things may not be going according to plan,

but the neocons still have their eyes on the ball. First, change Iraq into a place friendly to US corporations and military bases. Then, allow Saudi Arabia to become destabilized and provide the US with the pretext to invade it in order to secure even more of the world's oil supply. Unlike the case for Iraq, the neocons have lots of support for invading and "stabilizing" Saudi Arabia. That's evident right here on DU.

Don't worry. No one will be disappointed. It's coming soon. Maybe a draft too to supply the necessary bodies for this enterprise.

Instead of resting on a foundation of liberty and justice for all, the republic floats on a steady stream of crude oil, or perhaps it's drowning in it. Attempting to secure that oil militarily will work for only a short time and will squander any support or credibility the US has left, not only in the Middle East but anywhere else. Oil may surge to $100 a barrel, but what value do we place on the ideals we've squandered pursuing it? Our enemies know this quite well, and our leaders play into their hands. If we make this crisis a choice between democracy and oil, in the end we'll have neither. We need to get out of Iraq and out of Saudi Arabia, and we need to get serious about conservation and alternative energy technologies. Anything less, and we might as well get used to more of these terrible attacks.

[SandyUSA]

26. Neo-Con plan is to inflame, weaken, divide, and conquer...

That means all Arab nations. Democracy is the last thing on the neo-con mind. Puppet regimes at best. Iraq severed into warring ethnic factions. In other words, failure is actually their goal. They were never really fools to think they would bring democracy to these lands because they never believed that. What is catching up to these fools this time around is that more of us are catching on to their schemes -- in great part due to the volume of detailed info we can share on the Internet.

[T Bone]

27. Why are bodies in ME always dumped on or near a bridge ?

It seems to be a recurring theme. Mercenaries and contractors bodies always turn up on a bridge or near a bridge? :shrug:

[AliceWonderland]

28. al-Qaeda gunmen

What crappy journalism. A statement purportedly from Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was posted on Islamist internet sites claiming responsibility for the attack, the third on foreigners in less than a month. Oh, okay, that's rational evidence. And yet it's simply reported in the first paragraph as "al-Qaeda gunman."

This al-Qaeda nonsense never ceases to amaze me. al-Qaeda is the most fairy tale magical miraculous organization in human history.

[Hekate]

29. What happened to Bandar Bush's promise to help Dubya...

...by keeping oil prices down this year? <sarcasm off>

An awful lot of people in the Western nations are going to be hurting economically because of this -- it's by no means just about our summer vacations. While I was shopping at my favorite grocery store I commented on the jump in milk prices, and was informed that the rising cost of gas was being passed on to the customer. The vast number of things in our lives dependent one way or another on oil is something not always in the forefront of our minds.

Well, maybe all the undecideds in this country will think a lot less kindly of Dubya as this latest disaster unfurls itself toward their checkbooks.

Hekate