...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
tossed in the slammer
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
two suspected members of al-Qaeda who may have been plotting against Western embassies in the Middle East, the interior ministry announced Thursday.
The two men, a Yemeni and a Chadian national, had contacts with the Yemeni branch of the terror network, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), state news agency SPA quoted ministry front man General Mansour al-Turki as saying.
The Chadian suspect had been expelled from Saudi Arabia but returned with a passport issued by another country, Turki added.
"The two suspects may have been implicated in the threats against Western embassies in the region," he said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, at the heart of the security alert that has shut a number of U.S. and Western missions in Sanaa, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, is seen by Washington as the most active branch of the jihadist network.
It was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda and is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal citing an anonymous U.S. official, Wuhayshi criminal masterminded the plot.
Previous reports have said that he was ordered to go on the offensive by al-Qaeda's overall leader, the late the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
's former number two Ayman al-
Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
But the official who briefed the Journal said that an intercepted communication had shown that Zawahiri merely approved an operation that had been drawn up in Yemen.
"Zawahiri's giving his blessing for a plot is very different from ordering that plot or being able to launch a 9/11-style attack," the official said, according to the report.
| The Jerusalem Post adds: |
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
in late July after they exchanged information on social media about imminent attacks, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, quoting an Interior Ministry official.
It said an investigation was continuing into the pair, who used mobile phones and encrypted electronic communications.