CNN BREAKING - British Airways suspends flights to Saudi

[VolcanoJen]

Just reported on CNN that BBC has suspended all flights to Saudi Arabia due to security concerns. No specific threat has been cited.

I'll post a link as soon as I find one.

- Jennifer

[DemNoir]

1. BBC?

Or British Airways?

[VolcanoJen]

7. Whoops! Sorry, rpalochko!

I edited my subject line.

Good eye! Thanks!

:-) Jennifer

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Look like Tony's learning

how to play Wag the Dog.

He certainly could use a big distraction from the Hutton inquiry right now.

[Braden]

3. Did you mean British Airways?

or all UK Carriers?

[Braden]

4. link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3148067.stm

[kclown]

5. link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3148067.stm

[Loonman]

6. Pariah

The "untouchable" Saudis aren't so untouchable anymore.

Nice.

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. suuuure

No specific threat?

As in "hey, something gonna happen in Saudi Arabia."

"Well, we better cancel all flights then, thanks for the tip, mate."

:eyes:

[Zech Marquis]

9. heads up people

something really bad is brewing...I've got a bad feeling about this :scared:

[onehandle]

11. Well, our "flightsuit in chief" is on "vacation". nt

nt

[King_Crimson]

16. Keep in mind that these fascist...

murdering bastards stir the pot at their best when Numbnuts is on leave. Remember August two years ago!

[Trek234]

17. Relax

Everything will be fine.

[laruemtt]

22. sorry to have to agree with you Zech

i've had a very strong gut feeling ever since chimpy and his goons ensconced themselves at "the ranch" and tried to get rid of air marshalls.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Something bad is happening in Saudi Arabia

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=63664

Five reported dead in fighting in Saudi capital


This kind of thing was unheard of a few years ago. This just did not happen in the Saudi capital. Something is going on here.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12206724.htm

RIYADH, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Saudi security sources said four policemen and a Muslim militant were killed in fighting in Riyadh on Tuesday, the second major clash between police and fundamentalists in the capital in three days

An Interior Ministry statement, apparently referring to the initial stages of the fighting in a known fundamentalist area in southern Riyadh, said three policemen were killed and a suspect was wounded.

It said the fighting started when police tried to check a truck parked in a street in the area. Two other policemen were wounded and an unidentified number of suspects were arrested, the statement said.

Saudi Arabia has launched a series of raids in recent months on militants suspected of links to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network since suicide bombings killed 35 people -- including nine Americans -- in Riyadh in May.

more

[AndyTiedye]

12. Regime Change?

Sounds like Saudi is on the verge of civil war.
The current government there is probably not long for this world.
Our troops are bogged down in Iraq, so we will not be able to prevent it.

[Trek234]

18. Good

I hope they have a regime change to a more liberal form of government.

Unfotunately - if they have a regime change, it will probably be by much more conservative religious nuts.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. The neocons don't want to prevent regime change in

Saudi Arabia. Fermenting chaos in the ME and exploiting it for American and Israeli interests was part of their prospectus. They'd love to take the Saudis out of Saudi Arabia, occupy the oil fields for "national security," and consign the rest of Arabia to the desert.

Remember the Rand briefing to the Pentagon last summer: "Iraq is the tactical pivot, Saudi Arabia is the strategic pivot, and Egypt is the prize."

[short bus president]

26. Saudi Eastasia?

"We have always been at war with Saudi Eastasia."

[aquart]

27. Israeli interests?

Sure, baby. You mean that Armageddon apocalypse rapture thing where all the Jews are converted or killed?

Someday you must tell me your plan for Middle East peace. The Jews leave and walk into the sea and everybody rejoices? Or something else?

Are many Israelis filled with hatred and fear? You betcha. It's a psychosis that comes from being afraid to go to the market or get on a bus because little bloody bits of you may be all that comes home.

But that's okay by you, because you know who the bad guys are.

And it's a relief to be able to hate Jews in public again, isn't it?

[uhhuh]

28. Israel does not equal Jews

If you think that any criticism of a government's policies is auto matically an attack on all its citizens, I think you are the bigot.

It must be a relief to be able to shout "Anti-semite" any time a criticism of Israeli policy is noted.

[Minstrel Boy]

29. pardon me, but

how the fuck can you tell me it's a relief to be able to hate Jews in public again, isn't it? How the fuck dare you.

Does the neoconservative agenda for the Middle East not accomodate Israeli interests? Am I an antisemite for saying so? Because that's all I said.

[paulk]

13. they may be doing a good job hiding

that Saudi Arabia was behind 9/11 from the people here in USA, but the rest of the world doesn't have it's head up it's ass like we do.

[schrodinger_I]

15. To hell with Saudi....

<EOM>

[paulk]

20. what does EOM mean? nt

[reprobate]

21. EOM = End of Message

[chiburb]

14. But Tony said the Iraq invasion...

Would make everyone safer. I'm soooo confused...

[Fovea]

19. St. Helens

We are looking at the bulge.
The entire landscape of the middle east might be entirely different next week. We might be in a regional war. It will be a hotter time on the Gulf than anything we have ever seen, except maybe mount st helens.

A Saudi civil war will be quick and ugly, and I suspect the royal family will not fare well. We better be ready to recognize any group that looks like a pro democratic western aligned population, no matter how anti American they sound at first. There is a endless pool of oil poised to burst into flame in the Arab street. It is their anger at the west.

A question to pose right now is -- What will we do when the Saudi Royal Family seeks asylum in the US? What implications would it have on our relations with the recognized govt of S.A.?

Considering the last 30 years, it's a piss poor time to have someone named Bush pResident of the United States. If we do not play it really subtly, we will have a serious problem in Iraq, S.A., and probably in opportunistic fashion, Afghanistan.

What a freakin nightmare!

She's gonna blow...

[reprobate]

24. Judging from the other actions of The Gang that Can't Think Straight...

I don't see this bunch as being able to think their way out of the situation. They are ideologs remember, and anything that goes against their ideology is just ignored in their planning.

I have the awful feeling that we are about to lose the entire middle east, no matter what the designs of the cabal.

Look at the map. To the east we have Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. All violently opposing us. Then there's Iraq. To the south and west of Iraq there's SA and Egypt. Both of which are tottering on the brink of fundamentalist muslim takover. If either fall to fundy islam we can kiss the whole region bye bye, cause it will trigger the entire region and our hold on iraq will disappear like smoke in the wind. Every moment we occupy iraq adds more fuel to the fire to tip the muslim street away from us and to radical islam.

My fear is that when the islamist change happens it will be swift and universal to the area. I can see the region's activists rising as one across the area and going after the 'great satan' in a general uprising. That's when we will need to pull our troops out in a real hurry, but I doubt we could do it in time to save a great many of our people.

If this all comes to pass, I plan on leading the parade on DC, with a bucket of tar in my right hand and a sack of feathers in my left.

[Pert_UK]

25. Passenger so angry she's "about ready to explode"

"Nadia Talpur, 20, a student from Toronto, Canada, who was also flying to Jeddah to see relatives said: "I have been passed round three different people so far and I still don't know what's going on. I'm about ready to explode."

Now if THAT isn't the most unfortunate turn of phrase I've heard in a while, then I'm a Dutchman.....

:evilgrin:

Full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3148067.stm

[BiggJawn]

30. Well...first Rumsferatu pulls out the troops....Then the "No Fly"...

...warnings...

Another poster said that with the US Army bogged down in Iraq, we won't be able to help...
Just WHO do you think is gonna be bombing Ryhad? Watch it, we're gonna be going in. "Really Incredible" informnation of non-specific threats... Hell, Colon Bowell will be telling us how Atta has been miraculously resurected as the first bombs fall...

It's ALL in the PNAC plan!