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| Arabia |
| Jihad against the Lebanese Christians |
| 2003-11-16 |
| EFL This is my first contribution, so go easy.GK by Walid Phares, Professor of Middle East Studies and Terrorism Analyst A few hours after the blasts in Riyadh, a chain of commentaries mushroomed around the world... By the morning the official "version" of the attack was about to become Governmental both in Washington and across the Oceans. In a nutshell, it was reported as an Muslim on Muslim attack, blaming the Islamist al-Qaida for mass murdering Muslims in their spiritual motherland Arabia, and during their holiest month of the year, Ramadan... The characterization of the Riyadh’s attacks took off without accurate data, hence ruining this wishful theory. Both BBC and CNN, and their media associates ignored the victims, their names, their socio-economic realities and the history of the Jihadists in this regard. According to Diaspora-based Lebanese sources, among the injured from the attacks about 90 victims were Lebanese.... one fact is certified: The massacre of the Muhayya compound was directed at the Lebanese Christian community living in Saudi Arabia. Media commentators and news rooms were too fast in describing the horror as Islamist terrorists murdering Muslims. Not that al-Qaida and its alike do not kill Muslims. They have terminated more than 48,000 Muslim civilians in Algeria and many moderate Muslims in Egypt. But the al-Muyaha attack targeted the Lebanese Christians for very specific reasons. There are about 100,000 Lebanese people working in the Kingdom since the mid sixties. Many from the first generations have become a pillar of Saudi economy. The contribution Lebanese from all communities, particularly the Christians to Saudi prosperity is widely known in the Business world. The most recent waves of Lebanese are made of liberal sectors and management planners. They are found in all spheres of the work force and as advisers to Government. It is to note that more than 80% of these migrants are Christians, and many among them are Maronites. Al-Qaida aimed at this vibrant community as a way to cripple one the pillars of Saudi economy. With one stone —this time a police car bomb— the Jihadists wanted to kill as many of these Lebanese "infidels" as possible. These Lebanese migrant birds were both "kafirs" and economic assets. Back in October, Usama’s audio-call through al-Jazeera called on the cleansing of Arabia from all people of the Book. There are no Jews left in the Peninsula. Most of the Americans are either gone or well protected. The next on the Jihad list are the Lebanese Christians. Last week end massacre was the first step in their elimination. But why this Jihadi determination to obliterate Lebanese Christians? Are they not Arabs? To be academically correct, they aren’t... But al-Qaida has more recent political reasons to aim at them. It is known, in the circles sympathetic to the Jihadists that Lebanese Christians have pro-Western affinities, work in American companies in the Peninsula, and constitute an obstruction to the radical clerics' designs on the Kingdom’s infrastructure. Worse by Jihadi standards, the Lebanese Christians worldwide have been at the forefront of the campaign against Terrorism... But Jihad against the Lebanese Christians has a very long history... The Jihadist paragdim is systematic. From Beirut, to Riyadh, passing by Haifa, the region is to be made Lebanese-Christian free. The method is very telling. Al-Qaida wants to sign and enjoy its horrors. According to Pierre Atallah, the Lebanese journalist in exile in Paris, who lost his nephew and niece, "the Terrorists were machine gunning the victims for more than twenty minutes. Killing has proceeded before the blasts." In Riyadh, it wasn’t a bomb by Jihadists against other Muslims, it was a slaughter of Christians. But by way of consequences, it is a Muslim image that al-Qaida was maiming. And many humanist Muslims made it clear in their statements. Few hours after I have finished writing this piece, an al-Qaida commander out of Iraq admitted that the compound was "under surveillance for many months." Al-Hijazi added: "that a large group of Lebanese Christians were living there." He openly declared that "after consultation, we decided it was appropriate to attack this place and destroy it, including the people who lived there, because it housed Americans and a large majority of Christians holding Lebanese citizenship." This statement simply rested the case. |
| Posted by:Gasse katze |
| #2 So they killed the guards, broke into the compound, machined gunned people for twenty minutes, rolled in the bombs, blew shit out of the place, then took off toward Iraq. If so, then the raiding party must have been fairly large, like 10, and suicide was not needed. Perhaps no suicide happened. The targeting of christians has not been a theme of the reporting as far as I've heard. The gunnies are probably still liv'n large in SA. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-11-16 2:33:59 PM |
| #1 I knew I'd screw something up. The link forthis Jihad Watch article is: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/000143.php I input it. Don't know why it didn't take. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2003-11-16 12:35:00 PM |