Saudi authorities are investigating suspected illegal arms sales by members of the country's national guard to al Qaeda operatives in the country, U.S. and Saudi officials said. The weapons were seized in a May 6 raid on an al Qaeda safe house and were traced to national guard stockpiles, the U.S. and Saudi sources said.
| Ohoh! Is that a termite in the ediface of Soddy Arabia? |
Problems in the Saudi Arabian National Guard are not new, according to the officials, and past audits of its armories have revealed that weapons were missing. But there was no crackdown on the illicit trade largely because of bureaucratic inertia.
| "Eh? They only kill infidels. Who cares?" |
A small number of officers in the national guard have been involved in illicit gun sales for years, according to the officials, and have sold weapons, including automatic rifles, to anyone willing to pay prices well above their market value. The officials emphasized that the motivation of the officers selling the weapons was money, not ideology, and does not indicate any al Qaeda penetration of a force that is supposed to protect the government. One Saudi official said the discovery has galvanized the senior Saudi leadership and the national guard itself. One of its officers was shot and killed last week as he tried to fend off suicide bombers who stormed one of the targeted residential compounds in Riyadh. "People are furious," one Saudi official said.
| If they'd been furious a couple weeks ago, they wouldn't have the problem now, would they? And if they'd been furious two years ago, we might not have had a problem. We could still be discussing Gary Condit... |
Interior Minister Prince Nayef said at a press conference today that authorities have arrested four people linked to al Qaeda. The four, detained in the last three days, knew in advance of the attacks but did not participate in them, Nayef and other officials said.
| "Blow myself up? Uh... Not this time. I gotta do my hair. How about next time?" |
As the investigation continues, Saudi authorities have begun to break down the composition of an al Qaeda group of at least 50 to 60 people in the country, sources said. It is led by Khaled Jehani, who left Saudi Arabia when he was 18, later fought in Bosnia and Chechnya, and had been based at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. Jehani, 29, returned to Saudi Arabia through neighboring Yemen after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. The officials said they believe the explosives used in the Riyadh bombings were brought into Saudi Arabia through Yemen, which shares a long and porous border with the kingdom. Officials identified another Saudi veteran of Afghanistan, Turki Mishal Dandani, as the leader of the bombing team. Dandani and Jehani are both believed to be at large.
| They were too important to blow up... |
Sixty FBI and other U.S. investigators, as well as a team from Britain's Scotland Yard, have joined the investigation, but Saudi officials differed today on the extent of their role. Nayef said the U.S. investigators had come to examine "the sites and we welcomed them based on that — for examining only." But Adel Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, spoke more expansively of the U.S. role on Fox News Sunday. The Americans, he said, are "helping us with the investigation. They're providing support to us. They're sharing whatever information they have. They're sharing their expertise."
| And Prince Nayef's guys are doing the "work". Gotcha. |
A U.S. official said cooperation was excellent and involved more than just looking at the bomb sites. The official said U.S. involvement was in sharp contrast to earlier investigations in which visiting FBI agents were shut out. The official said that in the current climate of cooperation he did not rule out the possibility that U.S. officials might be allowed to speak to detainees, something the Saudis have previously refused to allow. The extent of U.S. involvement here remains sensitive, however, and Nayef, in minimizing the role of the FBI, may want to deflect any domestic criticism.
| Rather like the Paks do... |
The devastating bombs have generated not only revulsion among many Saudis but something once unthinkable, the questioning of the country's strict religious environment and whether it inspires — intentionally or not — Islamic-driven violence. In one illustration of that mood, the religious police, known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, are keeping a low profile on the streets in accordance with a government instruction. Saudi religious police patrol the country, sometimes with sticks, to watch for instances of un-Islamic behavior, such as women not covering their heads.
"You got a license for that gun?"
"Yeah. Here."
"Y'r under arrest for un-Islamic activities!" |
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