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| Arabia |
| Al Qaeda trying to recruit Saudi pilots for suicide missions |
| 2003-09-09 |
| Israel’s Military Chief of Staff warned Tuesday against Al Qaeda attempts to recruit Saudi pilots that would take off from the Tabouk air base, which is relatively close to Israel, with the aim of carrying out attacks such as those committed on September 11, 2001. Saudis on suicide missions, now where have I heard that before? According to the Yediot Aharonot daily, army chief Moshe Yaalon said Israel was concerned about the possibility that Saudi F-15 pilots, based in Tabouk, would carry out such missions on behalf of Al Qaeda. Yaalon told a conference held near Tel Aviv that "From interrogations the United States is conducting with al Qaeda detainees, we know that the network is trying to recruit Saudi pilots to carry out aerial suicide missions against Israel, similar to the September 11 attacks on US cities". According to Yaalon, "Such an attack may be carried out by an F-15 plane or a civilian plane originating from the Tabouk air base." Trying to fly into Israel is the surest form of suicide I know of. I’ll lay money Israel knows the second anyone goes wheels-up from these bases. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #9 flash - Yemen reports al ghamdi captured = BBC |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-9-9 5:24:57 PM |
| #8 No this is about military pilots, not civilians - Tabouk Air Base. BTW, over the last 10 years, almost every occupation in SaoodiLand has been Saudi-ized - that means replacing non-Saudis with Saudis. Where it's merely a title at stake and ExPats can be hired to do the actual work, it approaches 100%. They give the Saudi the title and contract an ExPat to make him look like he can do something. We ExPats are highly-paid potted palms placed upon a stage where the Saudis prance about muffing their lines and pretending to do business with the real world. In occupations where you actually have to be able to do something or have skills it's far lower. Saudi military pilots are all Saudis - so there are actually very few (able to fly a jet) and they are the studs of the Saudi military. They wouldn't pass the entry exams for the AF Academy or make it through a single round of training exercises with a Western AF, but for Saudis, boy howdee, they're really something... |
| Posted by: .com (a.k.a. Abu This!) 2003-9-9 4:14:43 PM |
| #7 Al Qaeda trying to hire a British or American pilots??? As far as i know most of the Saudi pilots are retired Americans and British, some of them from other nations, real Saudi pilots are rare. |
| Posted by: Murat 2003-9-9 3:34:51 PM |
| #6 These guys are really good at buzzing the Aramco Core Area. Anything more than that will take a serious hald-holding session with a patient AWACS controller. My first bet is that they couldn't FIND Israel without several steers / course corrections. |
| Posted by: .com (a.k.a. Abu This!) 2003-9-9 2:46:46 PM |
| #5 I'd hit the kill switch just as they're starting too disappear. They start flying higher, higher, higher! Then suddenly start falling, falling, fal-Splat! Right in front of the Jihadis eyes. That will make a lasting impression. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-9-9 2:19:24 PM |
| #4 Aren't many Saudi pilots actually retired RAP? If not I still don't think that many, would be interested in giving up perks for jehadi status. If I were his Iman, I would disable the ejection seat to ensure the pilot's compliance with the fatawah. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-9 1:55:55 PM |
| #3 I'd wire the remote to the ejection seat with a female voice doing a countdown; 5...4...3...2, ya'll have a nice day, 1, eject! |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-9-9 11:57:20 AM |
| #2 Shh! nobody's s'posed to know about that. |
| Posted by: N. guard 2003-9-9 10:58:11 AM |
| #1 It would be interesting to see the U.S. perform the first field test of the remote kill switch they installed in these F-15s. I have a mental picture of the Saudi pilot holding up a sign that says "Oh, no!" a la Wiley Coyote as he begins to descend... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-9-9 10:25:42 AM |