The Religious Policeman

Following Monday's police shoot-out with terrorists, which killed 2 policemen, Tuesday's shoot-out tragically resulted in 4 dead policemen. And each time, the terrorists mysteriously "disappear".

Terrorists Gun Down Four Policemen

BURAIDAH/RIYADH, 14 April 2004 — Four policemen were killed in a series of clashes with suspected terrorists on the Riyadh-Qasim Highway yesterday as security officers defused two truck bombs that were ready to be used in attacks in the capital.

The Interior Ministry confirmed the death of the four policemen in machine-gun fire and said the attacks were carried out by “members of a deviant minority”, a veiled reference to Al-Qaeda sympathizers.

........The gunmen fled in the patrol car, which was spotted by police helicopters when they discovered the two car bombs, the source said.

Their escape car was spotted by a helicopter, in the middle of the desert, yet somehow it got away. How? Did it camouflage itself as a camel? For many of us, this incident is like watching a rerun of a bad movie; always the ending is the same - the terrorists escape. And many of us believe that we are witnessing a "fault line" between the relatively moderate policies of Crown Prince Abdullah, and the darker motives of other members of the Royals, and parts of the security forces themselves, who would like to see the terrorists succeed. And it's very scary.

Am I being paranoid?. Judge for yourself. Here's where it all started, about a year ago.

Al-Qaeda Plot Foiled

Raid Qusti, Riyadh Bureau Chief

Suspected Arab extremists being hunted by Saudi security forces in the Kingdom.

RIYADH, 8 May 2003 — A group of Arab extremists who had been planning terrorist attacks in the Kingdom is being hunted down in a densely populated district of the capital following a shootout with security forces raiding its hide-out, according to the Interior Ministry.

If ever a journalist regretted a headline, it must be Mr Raid Qusti. Because 5 days later, the same terrorist group blew up three separate housing compounds in Riyadh, killing a large number of Westerners and Arabs; the plot wasn't foiled, perhaps just delayed. The article describes the raid on their safe house, and another miraculous escape. Police surrounded their hideout, there was a firefight and all 19 of them slipped thru the cordon. How do 19 people escape from a building surrounded by police? Draw your own conclusions.