The cloud across the sun
If Al Qaeda's latest threats to target the Gulf weren't worrying enough, this unnamed UAE official confirms that terrorists are already active in the sandlands:
The United Arab Emirates has not seen any attacks, but many factors could make it a prime target. The country is home to a U.S. air base, the freewheeling and cosmopolitan Emirates welcomes Westerners for beach vacations, and it has the Mideast’s busiest airport in Dubai. The UAE also has a special forces team in Afghanistan.
That hasn’t escaped notice by militants. A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several plots had been broken up and would-be terrorists arrested.
It is the shadow that has always been here, darkening the gold and the glitter; the shiny newness of luxury malls and hotels; the booming economy and massive tourism influx. Shaitanic terrorism. Destroying innocent people, and destroying the image of a great religion.
The United Arab Emirates has not seen any attacks, but many factors could make it a prime target. The country is home to a U.S. air base, the freewheeling and cosmopolitan Emirates welcomes Westerners for beach vacations, and it has the Mideast’s busiest airport in Dubai. The UAE also has a special forces team in Afghanistan.
That hasn’t escaped notice by militants. A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several plots had been broken up and would-be terrorists arrested.
It is the shadow that has always been here, darkening the gold and the glitter; the shiny newness of luxury malls and hotels; the booming economy and massive tourism influx. Shaitanic terrorism. Destroying innocent people, and destroying the image of a great religion.
Labels: terrorism
22 Comments:
We have a US air base?
a great religion?
money, money, money...keeps Dubai safe. For now
os : good point. logically if dubai havnt paid off to the certain group dubai would be the prime target. uae is the only place spared bomb attacks in the region.
so, one wonders how those 'groups' got their fund? i bet bin ladin's personal saving run out long time ago. Its scary to think that perhaps this place , to keep its prosperity and image, is indirectly financing the 'groups'. means someone somewhere else is paying their blood and life because dubai wants to be what it is ! oh man i hope im not right ..
well, thats one scary theory so i better go anonymous..
oh come on! I just bought a tiny freehold one bedroom, this is really not good news for 80% of my life savings :-(
Sucker. Say goodbye to your life savings...you'll have a worthless box before you know it.
Don't you remember this in 2004:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- A bomb threat temporarily closed the U.S. Embassy and consulate general offices in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, according to a senior United Arab Emirates official and a statement from the embassy.
Or EVEN THIS:
Bomb defused in Dubai supermarket
United Arab Emirates-USA, Local, 2/3/1999
A statement released on Tuesday in Dubai by the US embassy there said that a bomb was defused last week in a supermarket in Dubai usually frequented by the Americans and the European communities (it was later confirmed as Spinneys.
The statement added that the police were able to dismantle the explosive and opened an investigation into this incident.
These things happen, just people have no clue
That crap about "paying groups off" and "they need the financial networks" doesn't bear much scrutiny and has "urban myth" written all over it. People here, specially expats, want to believe it's all safe and well, and what better way to believe it than to think powers that be have taken out an insurance policy with the bad guys? More plausible to a contanment theory is the fact that certain parts of society are, at the very least, sympathetic to militant Islamist groups.
I can imagine that the Emirates as a political entity could be stressed by the threat - after all, if Abu Dhabi wants to have a US airbase, how dare they increase the threat to Dubai, Sharjah and Co? Or to put it the other way, how dare Dubai, Sharjah and Co dare to leave Abu Dhabi to take the risk for the common good?
I have wondered for a long time how nothing has happened here as yet. The prostitution everywhere would be enough to anger the "wrong" people. I agree with OS on this one, there must be money involved to keep it all away from here.
Guys slightly off topic, but news just in...have to paste it You may end up blocking this SD i know..and I'm sorry:
Dubai Guv, Arab sheiks sued for slavery
By: AFP
Miami: A lawsuit has been filed in a US district court alleging that the governor of Dubai and his son enslaved some 30,000 children over the past three decades for use as camel jockeys, the US attorneys announced here.
The 56-page suit, which bases its case on international laws banning slavery and the use of child labour, names Dubai governor and United Arab Emirates vice president Sheikh Moh*** Bin Rashid Al Mak**** and his son, Sheikh Ham*** Bin Rashid Al Mak**** as well as others.
They are charged with "the alleged abduction and human trafficking of thousands of young boys" from places like Bangladesh, Sudan and southern Asia, according to a release by the South Carolina-based law firm Motley Rice LLC.
"Once abducted, the children were allegedly sold into slavery to serve as camel jockeys for the entertainment of the Arabian elite," the statement read.
According to the complaint "boys as young as two years old have been stolen from their families, trafficked across international borders, and kept in brutal camel-racing camps throughout the United Arab Emirates, forced to train camels and perform as jockeys."
The suit alleges that despite the enactment of legal weight and age limits, "child jockeys weighing less than 20 kilos have become the standard in races. Because of the extreme danger involved in camel racing, Arab sheikhs have not used their own children for training or riding, and instead have resorted to this alleged child enslavement."
The suit also claims some of the boys were sexually abused, injected with hormones to prevent them from growing, and starved to be kept light
SIN link ?
nm Sin
will smith is in maimi dot com
The whole class action document is available there as a pdf. all 59 pages
please remove this if the above will get you in trouble SD
Hey again off topic. But did anyone watch the Champions league match between Arsenal & Hamburg?
Probably it would have been an unprecedented event when two teams that matched up were sponsored by the same company - emirates (that spends a lot and lot). So what did they do? Arsenal's jersey said Dubai and Hamburgs was the normal Fly Emirates. Can't wait to see what happens in the return leg and also who they are going to sponsor next.
Westerners don't understand the scope of the secret police apparatus in this country, it puts the Stasi to shame. Half the country is spying on the other half, and all the mosques are kept under tight surveillance. 99% of the locals understand that one AQ attack will make the whole merry-go-round stop, so they're vigilant about any radical talk or behavior.
anonymous 21.58
big comment to make pal? is this a fact or just a rumour, like so many others here?
croksicum,
with regards to sponsors for the return leg, hamburg wear "dubai" and arsenal wear "fly emirates"
Re: the post above, how do you know this?
Nesa Simon David, say that in public in Dubai and u'd bne deported in no time
Apart from this article, there was one anonymous who is apparently a B-SOB who recognizes himself and I tell him: Yes, whether you like it or not. Thanks guys.
Oh I just realize, the message is for you, NSD.. dont like it? you know what you can do. KMA.
I'm not altogether sure threats of terrorism in the name of al Qaida always come from "muslims".
I'm not altogether sure threats of terrorism in the name of al Qaida always come from "muslims".
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