Sunday, February 26, 2006

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Al Qaeda defines victory down

If this Associated Press report by Donna Abu-Nasr is correct, then Al Qaeda's spokesman is starting to sound a lot like the publicist for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Both are all too eager to declare moral victories when real ones aren't happening:

Al-Qaida on Saturday vowed more attacks on Saudi oil facilities, a day after an attempt to bomb the world's biggest oil processing complex showed the group still can strike inside the kingdom....

Two suicide bombers in explosives-packed cars traded fire with police at a checkpoint before a gate in the first of three fences around the sprawling, heavily guarded complex. One bomber collided with the closed gate, exploding and blowing a hole in the fence, a senior Saudi security official said.

The second bomber drove through the hole before police opened fire, detonating his car, the official added on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Witnesses on Friday reported that security forces traded fire with gunmen outside the facility after the explosions and that a hunt for attackers continued for hours. Saudi officials have not reported the capture of any assailants....

"There are more like them who are racing toward martyrdom and eager to fight the enemies of God,'' the posting said. "You will see things that will make you happy, God willing.''

In a later statement, the group said it carried out the attack "based on the instructions of our leader, Osama bin Laden'' and identified the two slain suicide bombers as Abdullah Abdul-Aziz al-Tweijri and Mohammed Saleh al-Gheith.

It denied that the bombing was foiled and gave its own account of the attack. It claimed that Al-Qaida fighters overcame guards at the gate, killing three and forcing others to flee. The fighters then opened the gate for a car that entered and blew up, it said, without specifying what the blast targeted.

The authenticity of the statements could not be independently confirmed.

I look forward to future Al Qaeda posting claiming that, "it was a good operation today, we just caught a bad break," and "With our farm system, we are confident in our ability to be a powerful terrorist group in 2010."

posted by Dan on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM




Comments:

Perhaps, in today's Saudi Arabia, being able to plan and partially execute such an action without getting nailed before the fact counts as a victory for al Qaeda.

Let's hope they're continually forced to lower the bar on what constitutes a "successful operation."

posted by: bartman on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



Don't forget that they're gonna have high placement in the draft to get some more talented prospects...

posted by: Matthew on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



I'm not so sure, that that attack on the oil facilities was simply a moral victory. Wasn't one of the stated purpose is of such attacks to raise hell with the world's finances? Look closely and you may discover that the price of crude went up by $2.00 a barrel immediately following that attack. That seems to me a very concrete result toward the end goal.

I grant that the price increase was fairly temporary. But one can't help but wonder if there isn't some market manipulation going on here.

posted by: Bithead on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



Sure, Bithead - maybe the Saudis staged the whole thing to get a temporary bump in the price, to swell their coffers a little bit more.

They probably faked the al Qaeda press release too.

posted by: bartman on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



"Don't forget that they're gonna have high placement in the draft to get some more talented prospects..."

Ha! I got a good laugh from that. Thanks.

Honestly I think Al Qaeda is required to declare victory after every attack. If Osama came out and said "We faught a good game but in the end we just could make the shots (no pun intended)" I would imagine recruiting would take a serious hit. Claiming failure in attacks it not the type of thing which gets people to sign up. Nobody wants to be a the Bode Miller of martyrdom.

posted by: Chris Albon on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



No, Bartman... not the Saudis.
AlQuieda. Surely, you dont think the activities they've been pursuing, were done without money?

posted by: Bithead on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



"The authenticity of the statements could not be independently confirmed."

We don't know what happened. We don't know to what extent the attack failed, yet. Depending on how many al Qaeda observers got away, al Qaeda might not know what happened.

al Qaeda in saudi arabia needs to be very careful with their symbolism. They might not have to do very well at that to be more popular than the saudi monarchy, a low bar, but they want to be popular enough they get volunteers to do suicide bombing. So they need targets that people agree are good symbolic targets. Schools and hospitals are no good for that.

Wasting the nation's oil is probably not particularly good symbolically. But reducing exports, when every saudi knows their dwindling oil is more valuable the longer they leave it in the ground....

posted by: J Thomas on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



This seems to be as good a place for any for the greatest quote of all time, from Tampa Bay Devil Rays ex-GM Chuck LaMar:
"The only thing that keeps this organization as being recognized as one of the best in baseball is wins and losses at the Major League level."

posted by: carl on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



Bithead:

I doubt al Qaeda has some sort of profit sharing deal with any OPEC nation. It's more likely they're operating on (a) bin Laden's residual fortune - he did have many millions, and (b) the money the Taliban looted from the Kabul treasury before they left town - estimated to be in the area of $110 million.

posted by: bartman on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



The problem with the farm system is that you simply can't get good coaches! Experience counts, and when we're talking about successful suicide bombers.....

Well, let's just say that Mohammed Atta isn't available any more....

posted by: Don S on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



The problem with the farm system is that you simply can't get good coaches! Experience counts, and when we're talking about successful suicide bombers.....

Well, let's just say that Mohammed Atta isn't available any more....

posted by: Don S on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



Matthew, re: draft position...nice point. And they're going to need the high draft choices, because I'm pretty sure that due to the vagaries of the free agent market, al qaeda is way above the salary cap of 1800 virgins a year. Quote Osama, "do I look like f---ing steinbrenner?!!! You think I just pluck virgins off my virgin tree and send them up to heaven so all you dead bastards can collect on this sh**?!!!" Later on, feeling more collected, Osama pointed out that everyone deals with the cap system, and, in the end, it helps to achieve parity. "there's a a lot of small market teams that don't have our financial resources and market share." He went on to point out that smaller market teams, like Hamas, and Hezbollah had been consistently good year after year despite lesser resources. Bin Laden ended his news conference early before he was able to address the upcoming collective bargaining agreement talks, although recent statements indicate owners have reached tentative agreements with zealots, militants, and true believers, but that radicals were holding out for an extra four virgins upon ascension.


...collective bargaining...bwahahahahahah....


Dan, I'm not around here all the time, but your humor here strikes me as a little twisted....and I like it. Are you always this way, or has Hyde Park (or U of C) taken a small piece of your sanity?

posted by: MM on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]



Bart;

I doubt they do as well.

Then again, there's always the open market to invest in... at just the time when they know there's going to be a large price increase.... one they create. All of which can be undertaken by third parties... all without any connection at all between AQ and the house of Saud.

Follow?

posted by: Bithead on 02.26.06 at 01:11 AM [permalink]






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