Tim Blair

Never mind about the cops. Where have you been?

Nursing a sore head perhaps. No symphathy for self inflicted injuries you know.

They were busy herding girls back into their burning school to die, because they never had their heads covered. Don't you know anything about Saudi law Tim?

Arty, you're confusing the religious police with the civil police. (And we all know the importance Islam places on separating the two.) The civil police were probably right there. Among the chasers.

What does a crocodile want to eat when its "master", even partially, stops feeding it the food it enjoys? The hand that fed it. Or, in this case, foreign workers who sustain an oil economy and the rulers propped up by its revenues.

The Wahhibist-terrorist crocodile wants a new master to feed its appetite for raw power. While "sleeping" and slack policeman now cater to al Qaeda, the House of Saud is being eaten alive. Will the ruling family, deeply at odds with itself and the beast it has nurtured, survive? Perhaps, but the West may have to send over a prosthetic limb or two.

At any rate, the Saudi policemen are sure making the new Iraqi police recruits look like crackerjacks--

Where were the cops?" Maybe at Qrispy Qreme.

Even if police forces are becoming al Qaeda corrupted, why didn't any civilians help Cumbers as he ran for nearly a mile through a suburb? How many of the murders and kidnappings happen with bystanders not intervening? Are they afraid to "get involved", or are they exercising a sort of passive jihad by not helping the dhimmis?

90% of saudis approve of osama, so why would they help an infidel? we're all enemies to them...

When I lived in Riyadh, we had Saudi "guards" on the outside perimeter, and US guards on the inside perimeter. Our plan, if attacked, was to use the M-60s on the inside perimeter to shoot the Saudi guards on the outside perimeter, since we were sure they would either abandon their posts or join in with the attackers. Then we'd use their outer perimeter to put a decent defense against the attack. The outside perimeter had much better (and further) fields of fire, so we wanted to put up the strongest defense there. Our only fear was that the MGs on the outside perimeter would be useless because we never once saw the guards cleaning or maintaining the weapons.
Never did come to that, but that was our plan if it did.
Saudi guards asleep? Not if western women were coming through their gate!

c, there have been a few posts about peculiar laws in Saudi Arabia. For example, one law says that first aid can't be given until emergency services arrive on scene.

In contrast, many states in the USA have a "Good Samaritan Law" which relieves passerbys who assist someone in an accident from liability. This is to encourage bystanders to help. It doesn't always work, but the intent is to promote helping your fellow human beings.

Since Saudi Arabia actively forbids their citizens from providing simple first aid, I imagine that any "Good Samaritan" behavior is discouraged. Whether that discouragement be cultural, or enforced by religious/civil police, I don't know. But it is clearly present.

It's also possible that Al Qaeda influence on the general population in Saudi Arabia is more extensive than previously considered, and people were told to stay out of the way. Or this is just another manifestation of racism/religious hatred in Saudi Arabia.

Just think how mean these sons-of-bitches would be if Islam wasn't the religion of peace.

I lived in Saudi for over 5 years and found that for every authoritative statement, there was an equal an opposite statement. In regard to The Real Jeffs' comment about first aid I would like to quote an extract from the religious Q & A page of the Arab News of 18 APR 94.

Q. I have often often wondered on what may be appropriate in the case of a road accident in which women and children are injured. Is it permissible for a passer-by to stop and help them? Is such a stranger allowed to get them physically out of a car or into another car? Or would this be inappropriate?
A. I am grateful to this reader for stating he is a non-Muslim. I can understand his concern. I do not think any Muslim would ask such a question, because by nature, a Muslim knows that in such a situation he should not hesitate to give the necessary help.......if they have first aid material, then they [the men] can use these to help her.

Before leaving for Saudi we were briefed not to give assistance in a road accident. I would have followed that advice regardless of the counter advice subsequently given in the Arab News. For every statement......

"The London Times..." The paper is called 'The Times'. A better reference is 'The Times (UK)' as it is actually a British newspaper. After all, we wouldn't refer to 'The Sydney Australian'.

Er, where were the good citizens of that fair Saudi city? The measure of any culture lies in the typical relationship between one person and another. If the average Saudi can't lift a finger to save another person's life, that country is doomed, and deserves to be. Take the oil away and there would be nothing but a few people wandering in the desert within 20 years.

HRT, thanks for the information. That's is an interesting extract, from someone who has been there.

And I should have prefaced my comment with, "I've never been in Saudi Arabia, but I have a number of friends who have been, and they tell much the same story."

Since al-Qaeda "threatened to treat the captive as U.S. troops treated Iraqi prisoners", does that mean he will be released alive and compensated for his humiliating treatment?

The Saudi guards sound much like the Kuwaitis who guard the oilfields. They are equipped with one battered rifle, with two magazines taped together but lacking any ammunition. The ammo is kept in another building. A cheery wave is normally enough to breach the security and enter the oilfields without a pass.

I know it's easy to second-guess, but personally, I would have dropped the camera if I was being chased by gunmen.

chip,
the good citizens live under a dictatorship and thus have learned that if you see crazed gunmen, you should not bother them.

"It threatened to treat the captive as U.S. troops treated Iraqi prisoners."

I wish.
(that's a THREAT?)

Ah yes, a BBC cameraman. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person. I suspect that he was desperately protecting his camera so that his report on the Arab street rising up against Bushitler wouldn't be ruined.