Free Republic

Imagine if Pat Robertson called for the demolition of all the mosques in America. It would be front-page news. It would be on every network and cable-news program. There would be a demand for Christians to denounce him, and denounce him they would — in the harshest terms. The president of the United States and other world leaders would weigh in, too. Rightly so. So why is it that when Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah Al al-Sheikh, the grand mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, declares that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches in the Arabian Peninsula,” the major...

Long before Osama bin Laden's death, al Qaeda had adapted itself to survive and operate without him, ensuring the threat his terror network poses will live well beyond his demise. Bin Laden spent the last decade on the run following the al Qaeda-mounted terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. But his fugitive status didn't render the network impotent. Instead, it forced an evolution: The original group splintered, popping up in new places with new leaders who, in addition to attempting high-profile attacks, encouraged their radicalized followers to strike on their own if the opportunity presented itself. Strong...

The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show. The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%. The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the...

A suspected U.S. drone apparently crashed in Yemen, was recovered by local police and then stolen by al Qaida, according to AFP. The plane was an MQ-1 Predator being used to support ongoing special operations missions against terrorists there. U.S. special ops troops have been in the country for quite some time, helping to train local security forces in fighting al Qaeda. Yes, drones crash quite frequently in combat zones for a variety of reasons. What’s interesting here is the Yemeni government’s inability to secure the wreckage, even when it can get its hands on it. The drone crashed in...

officials suspected Yemen had stocks of shoulder-fired missiles, a major concern if they fell in the wrong hands, while the Yemeni leader sought to use new-found leverage for US aid, secret memos said. Although Yemen's Defense Ministry insisted it had no such cache of the weapons, an informant told US diplomats that the government agency in fact "does indeed have MANPADS, but would never speak of them because they are considered a state secret." The embassy cable marked "secret" and dated August 4, 2009 also said that while Yemen "realizes their MANPADS are of little military value, they consider them...

Arabian Aerospace has learned that Riyadh will spent $25.6bn on setting up the SANG Aviation Command through the purchase of 156 helicopters including Apache and Little Bird AH6 models.. Saudi has previously confirmed a requirement for 190 helicopters but it had previously been expected that these would be for the RSAF. The National Guard heads the internal security within the Kingdom and is directly descended from King Abdul Aziz Al Saud’s Ikhwan (Brotherhood), or White Army as it was sometimes called. This was the King’s instrument for subduing and unifying the various disparate tribes of the Arabian Peninsula to form...

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to US documents leaked by WikiLeaks and published Sunday by daily newspapers. According to a leaked US cable, published by the New York Times, King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz made the call during an April 2008 meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and US General David Petraeus. "He told you to 'cut off the head of the snake'," Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, told the US embassy in Riyadh two days after the high-level talks, according to the...

Barring unlikely 11th-hour objections, a 60-billion-dollar US arms sale to Saudi Arabia was set Friday to go into effect despite initial worries from US lawmakers over its impact on Israeli security. The Pentagon unveiled plans for the sale on October 20, and the US Congress had 30 days to move to block or change the terms of the transaction, which partly aims to help Saudi Arabia counter Iran's regional influence. "Thirty days are up at the end of today, after which the administration may proceed. There is no sign that Congress will block the sale," said a Senate Foreign Relations...

As expected, Saudi Arabia finally made it official that it is buying 84 U.S. F-15Es. These are special versions of the two-seater F-15E. But what was really interesting was the list of accessories ordered along with the aircraft. These included; 100 M61 Vulcan multi-barrel 20mm cannons, 193 LANTIRN 3rd Generation Navigation Pods, 338 Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems (JHMCS), 462 AN/AVS-9 Night Vision Goggles (NVGS), 300 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air Missiles, 500 AIM-120C/7 AMRAAM radar guided air-to-air missiles, 5,400 smart bombs (GPS and laser guided, 227-909 kg), 400 AGM-84 Block II Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 600 AGM-88B HARM anti-radar missiles, 158 AN/AAQ-33...

King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia has taken charge of arms negotiations with the United States and is seeking to downgrade the power of the defense ministry, which is run by his ailing designated heir, Prince Sultan, Paris's Intelligence Online says. The cancer-stricken Sultan, who is the monarch's half-brother but from a rival branch of the royal family, is reported to be "enfeebled and unable to comprehend government affairs," says Simon Henderson, an expert on Saudi Arabia with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Intelligence Online, a Web site that monitors global security affairs, noted when Abdallah toured the United...

Russia and Yemen could sign an arms contract worth over $1 billion, an international arms expert said on Thursday. A Yemeni delegation led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh discussed sales of Russian arms to the Arab republic on Wednesday during the leader's short visit to Moscow. Igor Korotchenko, head of a Moscow-based think tank on the international arms trade, said Yemen "is interested in a very broad range of Russian arms and military equipment," especially MiG-29 SMT jet fighters (up to 30), Mi-35 and Ka-52 helicopter gunships and Mi-17 military transport helicopters. He said Saleh's wish list also included T-72M1...

NOTE: The following SNIPPET is a quote: 30 June 2010 THIS IS WHY JEWS KEEP AND BEAR ARMS Among other things, he says "Khaibar, Khaibar, Oh Jews, the Army of Mohammed will return," a reference to Mohammad's massacre of the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula. Posted on 30 June 2010 @ 16:30

Israeli Air Force aircraft dropped off large quantities of military gear at a Saudi Arabian military base last week in preparation for a potential attack on Iran, a number of Iranian and Israeli news outlets have reported. The unconfirmed report, first published by the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars and the Islamic website Islam Times, claimed that on June 18 and 19, Israeli helicopters unloaded military equipment and built a base just over five miles outside the northwestern city of Tabuk, the closest Saudi city to Israel. All civilian flights into and out of the city were said to have...

The United Arab Emirates expects to finalize a $7 billion contract to buy Lockheed Martin's high-altitude missile defense system in the next few months, officials of the U.S. defense giant say. The deal would mark the first time that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system has been sold to a foreign state and underlines Washington's efforts to establish a Persian Gulf-wide shield against Iranian ballistic missiles among U.S. allies in the region. These states, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, are within easy missile range by Iran, lying as they do across the gulf, and...

The United Arab Emirates is pressing Washington about buying the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. So is Israel. That's part of the United States' dilemma as it seeks to bolster the military forces of its Arab allies to counter Iran. The Americans also want their Arab friends, particularly the Persian Gulf states that neighbor Iran, to take more responsibility for their own defense at a time when the U.S. military is tied down in Afghanistan and Iraq. The F-35 program headed by Lockheed Martin of Maryland has fallen badly behind schedule. On March 11, the Pentagon admitted to a 2-year lag...

The United Arab Emirates plans to host a four-day parley that would focus on air and missile defense. The second annual conference, titled "Annual Air and Missile Defence Summit," was scheduled to begin on May 30 in Abu Dhabi and include senior U.S. and other military commanders. "With the Middle East region being key to the global security, this summit aims to bring together all the key players to discuss the roadmap towards an integrated air defence strategy." conference director Grace Chng said. Organizers said the conference would focus on technology, interconnectivity and interoperability between military and industry. They said...

The Persian Gulf States have launched efforts to protect their territorial waters amid tension with neighboring Iran and threats from Al Qaida. Over the last two years, several Gulf Cooperation Council coast guards or navies have acquired or ordered fast patrol boats. They included Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Officials said the Gulf Arab countries were investing to expand their coast guards. "There is concern that terrorists could sneak into the area and carry out a major attack on energy installations," a GCC source said. The enhanced maritime security has resulted in confrontations between fishermen and...

The sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan last March 26 by a North Korean torpedo has prompted some Arab Gulf officials to wonder whether this would be a scenario that they would likely face with a nuclear-armed Iran in the future. North Korea, now equipped with nuclear arms, appears to have grown bolder in its provocations of its U.S.-allied neighbor in the south and other parts of East and Southeast Asia. An international team of investigators concluded that the warship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo. Seoul’s reaction has thus far been mild compared to its loss of...

Saudi Arabia, concerned over Iran's nuclear weapons program, could turn to Pakistan for the kingdom's own nuclear project, a report said. The Institute of National Security Studies said Riyad has been working to prepare a nuclear infrastructure meant to deter neighboring Iran. In a report by researcher Yoel Guzansky, the institute cited Pakistan as the most likely developer of a Saudi nuclear option. "Therefore, should Saudi Arabia find itself in a sensitive security situation, it may well be that it would seek to capitalize on its investment in the Pakistani program," the report, titled "The Saudi Nuclear Option, said. The...

If diplomacy fails and Iran gets a nuclear bomb, the U.S. would still have ways to discourage Tehran from using these terrifying weapons. But there are limits on what even the world's sole superpower can do to contain a nuclear-armed Iran and blunt its influence in the volatile Middle East. U.S. officials insist they are not resigned to a nuclear Iran and are pressing negotiations to prevent it from joining the world's club of nuclear-armed nations. At the same time, though, the administration and the Pentagon are clearly anxious to avoid a military confrontation with Tehran. So Washington has set...