Sabbah Report » Saudi

Who is Really Behind It? The Implausibility of an Iranian Plot

SR Editor — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:04:37 +0000

By Esam Al-Amin*

On October 11, Attorney General Eric Holder, flanked by the FBI Director and the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused the government of Iran, specifically the elite Quds battalion of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), of plotting to assassinate the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the U.S, Adel Al-Jubeir.

So what do we know about this alleged conspiracy? And what are the facts pertinent to this explosive charge?

Manssor Arbab Arbabsiar

1) The alleged conspirator, Mansour Arbabsiar, is a 56 year old naturalized American of Iranian descent. He has been living in several Texas communities since the late 1970s when he arrived to the U.S. as a student. By all accounts, Arbabsiar led a disorderly life marked by constant failure, whether as a student, husband, father, or businessman.

For over two decades the alleged "mastermind" left behind a trail of successive failed businesses, including a used car lot, a restaurant, a convenience store, and a finance company. One of his friends told the Washington Post that he is "a goofy guy who always had a smile on his face."

Arbabsiar was neither an ideologue nor religious. His nickname among his close friends was "Jack" because of his affinity for Jack Daniel's whiskey. Last year, he was arrested for felony possession of a narcotic. According to public documents, his former wife accused him of spousal abuse and filed a protective order against him in 1991.

2) The complaint (so far it is not even an indictment by a grand jury) charges that Arbabsiar allegedly conspired with a high official of the Quds battalion of the IRGC. According to the complaint he was recruited by this official - who is also supposedly his cousin - when he visited Iran earlier this year.

There is plenty of evidence that the Quds Force has been involved in many militant anti-Western operations in Iraq. It has also been publicly supporting the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations in their struggle with Israel. These activities have earned it the label of "supporter of terrorism" by most Western nations, including the U.S.

But according to Robert Baer, a 21-year veteran CIA operative and analyst, the Quds Force is one of the most professional and disciplined (though deadly) organizations in the Middle East. As reported by CNN, the Quds Force "has never been publicly linked to an assassination plot or an attack on U.S. soil."

Baer confirmed this fact when he said that "in its 30-year history of attacking the West, the Quds Force went out of its way never to be caught with a smoking gun in hand. It always used well-vetted proxies, invariably Muslim believers devoted to Khomeini's revolution."

He then questioned whether the plot was genuine by asking, "Why didn't the Iranians use tried and tested Hizbullah networks and keep Iranian nationals, much less unknown Mexican narcos, out of it?"

3) We know from the complaint that the U.S government was actually directing the plot (target, location, method of attack, setting the price of the assassination, bank account information, etc.) Pete Williams, NBC's DOJ correspondent, said that the plot was in fact "a sting operation" directed by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the FBI. A recent report published by New York University Law School showed that in the past decade federal agencies have relied heavily on sting operations, not only in drug busts, but also most significantly in dozens of national security cases "that were planned, financed and executed by the FBI."

4) According to the official story, we are to believe that, although the price set for the Saudi Ambassador's assassination by a member of a Mexican drug cartel (who was actually a DEA informant) was $1.5 million, the Iranian handlers expected the assassin to carry it out by advancing him only $100,000 (less than 7 percent of the total amount.)

Moreover, as Baer argued in Time magazine, in three decades of external operations in many countries, the IRGC fingerprints or money transfers were never traced back to Iran, but that Iran has always "enjoyed plausible deniability." Baer further told CNN that, "it would be completely uncharacteristic for Iran to be caught red-handed."

Therefore, such sloppy behavior through traceable money transfers and phone intercepts is simply not credible. It appears to be a deliberate attempt to leave behind as many clues as possible to pin this alleged egregious act on Iran.

5) Another hole in this puzzle concerns the possible motive Iran could have by sponsoring such a provocative act. Strategically, Iran has never been stronger in the region. It has been the greatest beneficiary of the U.S. debacle in Iraq and its difficulty in Afghanistan. Furthermore, despite the successive international sanctions imposed on Iran, its nuclear and other military programs have been progressing at an increasingly steady pace, while asserting a growing and dominant role in the region.

Hillary Mann Leverett, an adviser on Iran in former President George W. Bush's administration, told CNN that this act made no sense, and contradicted Iran's national security strategy. She stated, "There's no benefit; there's no payoff in them pursuing this kind of hit against Adel Al-Jubeir. And it runs contrary to their entire national security strategy."

If Iran wanted to punish Saudi Arabia it had a plenty of targets in the region, including in Saudi Arabia itself, Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Persian Gulf region in general. If it wanted to target a diplomat, the worst choice would be on U.S. soil where such an act would be easily uncovered and would not go unpunished. It is not clear why Iran would even target a small functionary of the Saudi diplomatic core. Al-Jubeir is neither royalty nor a significant player in Saudi Arabia's foreign policy.

Since at least 2003, the Iranian national security strategy has been to de-escalate regional tensions and avoid any confrontation with the U.S. or its regional allies, especially Saudi Arabia. It has been in the middle of unprecedented build-up of its military power, especially its navy, nuclear power, and long-range missile programs. Experts believe that it needs at least five more quiet years to finish this phase of its build-up.

6) Ironically, in 2004 the U.S. uncovered an alleged assassination plot by another U.S. national against King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia himself, not his ambassador. In that plot, the U.S. asserted that it confiscated more than $340,000 payoff from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi for the killing of the Saudi monarch.

The Bush and Blair administrations, which were in bed with Gaddhafi at the time, negotiating the surrender of his nuclear programs, did not threaten or impose any sanctions on the former Libyan regime because of the plot. Although the U.S. sentenced the alleged U.S. conspirator to 23 years in prison, the Saudi king pardoned the alleged assassin who was arrested in Saudi Arabia.

However, this time the reaction by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia was not only swift and harsh, but threatening and escalating.

7) Since the inception of the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia has been very nervous. It has sent its army to Bahrain to crack down on the popular protests, while bribing its citizens and inviting the monarchs of Jordan and Morocco to join the GCC alliance in order to halt any movements in these countries towards a constitutional monarchy.

Meanwhile, throughout this year the Saudi media has been relentless in its attacks against Iran, presenting it as a "Shi'a" nation and a "Persian" power set on taking over the Arab Sunni countries in the region. It is an old tactic used by authoritarian regimes to focus the public's attention on an external enemy to deflect from the popular demands for democracy and civil rights and against repression and corruption as demonstrated by the Arab uprisings throughout the region. This alleged plot plays into the hands of those who want to escalate the confrontation with Iran inside Saudi Arabia.

8) But the clear winners of any escalation with Iran are those who want to attack Iran militarily in the region, namely Israel and Saudi Arabia. In one of the Wikileaks documents released recently, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia cabled back to the State Department that King Abdullah wanted a U.S-led military confrontation with Iran. He said that the Saudi monarch wanted to "cut the head of the snake" in the region.

Moreover, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who resigned a year ago, described the current Israeli government as "dangerous and irresponsible." Last spring he told the Israeli Haaretz newspaper that Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would attack Iran and that doing so would be "the stupidest thing." When asked about what would happen in the aftermath of an Israeli attack, Dagan, said that: "It will be followed by a war with Iran. It is the kind of thing where we know how it starts, but not how it will end."

According to The Forward, twelve of the eighteen living ex-chiefs of Israel's two security agencies (Mossad and Shin Bet), have been opposing an open war with Iran and are "either actively opposing Netanyahu's stances or have spoken out against them."

So the trick for the right wing Israeli government has been how to drag the U.S. into this war and make it an American-Iranian confrontation rather than an Israeli-Iranian conflict.

To sum up, this alleged plot actually raises more questions than it answers. It's supposedly led by a "goofy", unsuccessful U.S-Iranian dual citizen, who is neither religious nor ideological; manipulated by an informant of a U.S. law enforcement agency fronting as an assassin for a Mexican drug cartel; recruited without vetting by one of the most elite and disciplined organizations in the world, while paying only 7 percent of the contract to assassinate the ambassador to a country (Saudi Arabia) with which Iran is trying to have a good relationship, in a country (the U.S) with which it is trying to avoid any confrontation, while leaving money transfers, telephone intercepts, and clues behind.

If this sounds illogical, then who is behind this amateurish plot?

It is unlikely that there are so-called rouge elements within the IRGC that want to drag the U.S. into a confrontation with Iran. That would amount to virtual suicide within the Iranian establishment. There is no history of such behavior even when the country was militarily much weaker and politically unstable.

Thus, to best answer the question is to identify those who would benefit the most from a confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. Clearly those who have the most to gain from such a clash are Israel and the Iranian opposition, particularly the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).

While the former seeks to cripple Iran's nuclear program, the later has been in a deadly confrontation with the Islamicly-oriented government for decades, and wants to weaken the regime so it could be toppled. Both entities have tried over the years to sponsor terrorist operations and covert actions within Iran and outside to damage the regime or implicate it in external terrorist acts.

It is not beyond the realm of possibilities that the Israeli Mossad or the MKO were able to recruit an idiot or his cousin or both in a plot that involved assassinating the Saudi Ambassador, while leaving a trove of evidence behind to be found in order to implicate the Iranian government.

But assuming the U.S. was not privy to it, despite the plot being a sting operation, the more important question is then why the U.S. government took the bait and escalated the incident to a dangerous course with uncalculated consequences?

The U.S, Israel, and Saudi Arabia can certainly start a war with a more assertive Iran. But they certainly cannot end it. One only has to look at the recent U.S. adventures on either side of Iran's borders to learn that lesson.

* Esam Al-Amin can be reached at alamin1919@gmail.com

Saudi supercomputer

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:56:21 +0000

At last, something worth the money spent:

Saudi supercomputer lures researchers

By Asma Alsharif

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - A new science and technology university in Saudi Arabia will house one of the world's largest supercomputers and it is helping lure top researchers to the conservative desert state.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is due to open next year on the Red Sea coast near Jeddah, the most liberal city in a country where religious conservatives have extensive control over society.

Inside the campus, male and female students will be able to mingle freely, contrary to strict gender segregation enforced in most of the country. The university is part of a series of reforms by King Abdullah aiming to open the country up.

"The supercomputer is the cornerstone of this knowledge-based economy that we are seeking," said Majid Al-Ghaslan, in charge of the acquisition, design and development of the "Shaheen" supercomputer.

Named after the peregrine falcon, which reaches speeds of up to 340 kilometers per hour, Shaheen is expected to reach 222 teraflops, a measure equaling a trillion floating point operations per second, Ghaslan said. This will make it sixth most powerful computer in the world.

Shaheen will be able to simulate the Red Sea environment and model oil fields in three dimensions.

Although Saudi Arabia has immense financial resources as the world's biggest oil exporter, the parameters of school and university education are governed by religious strictures and many subjects are even off-limits for women to study.

The new university will offer research in biosciences and bioengineering, material sciences and engineering, applied mathematics and computational sciences.

With a $10 billion donation to its endowment from King Abdullah, it is able to lure experts from around the globe with the promise of almost unlimited funding for research work.

"KAUST is a remarkable addition to the world's resources in high-end computing," said David Keyes, Chair of the Mathematical and Computer Sciences and Engineering Division, who is moving from Columbia University in the United States.

"The machine that is being purchased here is one of the main attractions to me," he said.

The supercomputer will be used by KAUST and its partners including Cornell University, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, and Texas A&M University.

Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil

Haitham Sabbah — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:14:34 +0000

This is just getting out of hand. Ridiculous...

A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.

Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.

The question of how much of her face a woman should cover is a controversial topic in many Muslim societies.

The niqab is more common in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, but women in much of the Muslim Middle East wear a headscarf which covers only their hair.

Sheikh Habadan, an ultra-conservative cleric who is said to have wide influence among religious Saudis, was answering questions on the Muslim satellite channel al-Majd. [Source: BBC]

This is how Saudi ladies will look like from now on :-(

Why don't they enforce full-face cover and kill the issue? What do you call this? Religion and Islam? No Way!

Oh... by the way... anyone knows which eye should be covered? Left of right? (I assumed left because they keep on telling us to do things with our RIGHT thing... Ah... now I'm getting the rule. "Do the Right things with the RIGHT things only." This is where the Human "Rights" came from and here we see it in action.

Long live "One-Eye Veil."

Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:56:48 +0000

The latest crime "in the name of social customs and religious rules."

A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged.

The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.

The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.

Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation.

"Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food," he said.

The woman was murdered in August but her death was highlighted following Maliki's comments.

Social customs and religious rules oblige women in Saudi Arabia to cover their head and figure with a veil so that men are not distracted by the female form.

Critics also allege that Facebook is an avenue for the promotion of homosexual relations in Saudi Arabia. More than 6,500 people have signed the online petition in a bid to stop the conservative Muslim kingdom following Syria in banning access to the network from local internet servers.

There are estimated to be more than 30,000 Facebook users in the oil-rich kingdom. Many Saudi women use nicknames and post comic images or drawings on their pages instead of photographs. Some Saudi bloggers have dubbed the network "Faceless".

Women users' contact details and email addresses are often pseudonymous. The popularity of sites for singles has broken taboos on people making contact outside family and class connections.

One of the most popular Facebook groups among Saudi Arabian youth is Single and Looking in Saudi Arabia, which has 1,823 members and hosts many sexually explicit images. [Source]

I just hopes this is not "April's Fool", but even if it is, I have no doubt that sooner or later this will happen!

Arabisc: Cultural and Art Week

Haitham Sabbah — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 13:19:27 +0000

This is a cross-posting. It was initially published at Global Voices in my (semi)-weekly translation post.

The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogsphere.

This week, johacom was happy to find some cartoons by Arab cartoonist that depict some Official Arab Leaders. He says:

????? ???? ?? ?????? ????????????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ?????.????? ??? ???? ?????? ?????????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????.

The cartoons that depict the Arabian leaders are very few. I found this cartoon on a website of the Arabian cartoonist, Raed Qara'an.

The Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi standing in front a cave, cuffed and a TV airing a scene of Saddam Hussein. Qaddafi say: "With full-will, we decided to get rid of WMD".

johacom then follows the above post with another one that list all the Arab cartoonist websites he could find. Comprehensive list, I would say.

From the Gulf, Sadafat reports that United Arab Emirates citizens are against the Food Fair which will allow alcohol and wine to be marketed in it:

??? ?????? ???? ???????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????? ????????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???????? ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ï¿½???? ??????ï¿½ .

United Arab Emirates citizens expressed their deep rejection to accommodate any event that may object to Arabian and Islamic culture and heritage, as the preparation for the Alcohol Exhibition which Dubai is hosting carries on as a side event of the "Gulf Food Exhibition".

In the Saudi blogsphere, Cinema, Beauty and Books were discussed this week.

Emy says the Prince Waleed Bin Talal (one of the richest men worldwide), is sponsoring the production of the first Saudi movie. She says:

???? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ???????? ??? ???? ???? ??????.

??????? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ?? ????/???? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ???????? ??????? ?? ?? ??????.

Young Saudis longing for cinema in a country that has no movie theater and little marks of cinema industry, are firm willing to push the conservative Kingdom to the globe of the Seventh Art.

Seven Saudi films will participate in a cinema festival which will be held this March at Abu Dhabi-UAE, in the strongest appearance for the newborn Saudi cinema.

On the beauty side, Fuad Al Farhan says that in a college lecture it was reported that 90 percent of the Saudi females are not happy with their look and shape and that 37 percent of them would possibly go for a plastic surgery.

He then concludes:

?? ?????. ???? ????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ????????? ????? ???? ?????.

No Comment. But I think if I open a plastic surgery clinic, I might earn in the coming two years more money than that I could earn from Information Technology for the coming ten years.

The books had a good focus from few Arab bloggers. Again with Fuad Al Farhan who went to visit one of the biggest book stores in Jeddah, he noted that that very few Saudi citizen labors work in this new shop when compared to other famous Saudi book stores.

On the other hand, Abu-Joori comments on the conflict and tension that ruined a panel about Censorship on Media, which was held aside of Al Riyadh International Books Fair. He describe the conflict between the liberals and the devoutly religious panelists and says:

?????? ????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ? ????? ? ??????? .. ?? ??? ?? ???? .. ??? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ?? ??????? ???????? ??? ???????? ... ???? ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?? ?????.. ?? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ?? ??????!

Honestly, the problem is that each side is distinguished by his extreme, rejection and generalization .. Each side have flaws .. but the goal to win a battle against the other side ... prevents both sides from building on positives of the other side.. in fact focus on magnification of flaws of others in an ironic way and full of desire to erase other from existence!

Last but not least on books, Zeyad Al Saidi and other blogger from Oman are looking forward for the Oman Book Fair. He said:

??? ???????? ????????? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ???????? ?????? .

As for Omani bloggers, one of them published some photos of what is going in the Fair before the official opening.

Flickr Blocked in Saudi, Again!

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 14:10:56 +0000

Not to be missing to follow the steps of UAE, Saudi blocked Flickr again. I just can't get what stupid policy is this to block it one day and then open it later and then block it again. What is the benefit of doing such a thing? Is it a game some employees in these ISP companies are playing every now and then? Or is it infra structure issue.

During last week Bahrain bloggers meeting, one of the fellows mentioned that recent blocking of some Bahraini websites was not actually a surprise, specially that they had some of these websites blocked at one stage, but the issue was that some server/application which was suppose to be doing the job, broke and was replaced. So, when the new server came up, all what was suppose to be running on old server came back to life on the new one.

If true, this shows how ~~advanced~~ carp are some of our ISP are. On the other hand, God knows what else was not working all this time, and what is running now. But now we regret that they repaired there mess, because it resulted in refreshing the censorship in its ugly face :-(

Equality ‘key to labour welfare’

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 22:09:07 +0000

Finally, the international workshop to protect the rights of migrant workers was held in Bahrain.

I say finally because this workshop was not allowed to take place in all Gulf countries, until General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) decided to partner with the International Federation of Free Unions, the International Federation for Arab Workers Unions and the International Labor Organization, in hosting the workshop at Bahrain.

But why was it banned to be hold in other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country? The GDN quoting the International Labor Organization (ILO), told us that None of the Gulf countries is party to any ILO treaty or convention. Maybe this is the reason. But I think that Bahrain was brave enough to face the problem and try to find a solution rather than escaping and taking Head-In-Sand Approach, like other GCC countries, and that is worrying.

Even more worrying is to know that there is more than 13 million migrant workers are working in the Gulf region, and it seems that Gulf countries other than Bahrain are trying to avoid listening to any minor or major efforts to protect the migrant workers rights.

Do you know that 90% of the labor market is occupied by foreigners in the Gulf? It even reached 65-70% of the total population in some of the GCC countries. According to international standards, not more than 10-12% should the foreign labor force for any healthy labor market.

Fear were clear in the paper presented by Bahrain University lecturer Dr Jassim Hussain recommending the GCC governments who proposed to implement a six-year limitation for migrant workers. The debated was whether the proposed policy was essential.

Dr Hussain said that foreign workers were overrepresented in the region and they are "partly responsible for pushing wages down and undermining social welfare". He argued that foreign workers were partly responsible for rising unemployment among locals and caused heavy subsidy costs on a wide-range of services and that remittances were harmful to local economies.

ILO replied by saying that Bahrain has the right to establish a limited contract period for migrant workers, but added that equal conditions must be created first. So, be fair guys!

Now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights vice-president Nabeel Rajab said the proposal was based on a 'negative" study. He said none of the studies conducted in Bahrain over the last 30 years on migrant workers had ever focused on their positive impact on the country. same applies for all other GCC countries. Mr Rajab said the studies added to a degrading outlook on migrant workers. "None focus on the human rights of the migrant workers, or the violations committed against them," he said.

Anyway, the workshop is suppose to established basic principles for the treatment of migrant workers and their families, and provided international standards to protect their rights. Hope we see more constructive and positive plans and actions in the coming three days, the time the workshop ends.

Domestic Workers: Little Protection for the Underpaid

Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia

RIGHTS AT WORK - ILO

Saudi Arabia: Teachers Silenced on Blasphemy Charges

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 10:06:58 +0000

A Saudi court has sentenced a high school chemistry teacher to more than three years in prison and 750 lashes for talking to his pupils about his views on a number of current topics, such as Christianity, Judaism and the causes of terrorism. In Qassim province, north of Riyadh, the prosecution department pressed blasphemy charges against Muhammad al-Harbi, labeling the teacher an ï¿½apostate,ï¿½ after his students and fellow teachers filed legal complaints against him. The judge in the case, `Abdullah Dakhil, reportedly accused the teacher of ï¿½trying to sow doubt in a studentï¿½s creed.ï¿½ On Saturday, a court in Bukairia banned him from teaching and sentenced him to 40 months in prison and public flogging of 750 lashes.

Saudi to pay for weddings to fight terror

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:42:13 +0000

The Saudi government thinks it has a way of keeping former Guantanamo inmates from returning to terrorism by paying for their weddings. (UPI)
Is that all what the government can offer? Is that all what these inmates are looking for? And who suggest that they are terrorist? If they were terrorist, would US let them go? Then what a silly story UPI? Where do these stupid media stores get news from?

A fatwa on football?

Haitham Sabbah — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:41:38 +0000

Whoever says "foul," "penalty", "corner," "goal", "out" and others, should be punished and ejected from the game. Do not call "foul" and stop the game if someone falls, instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries. Do not play with 11 people. Add to this number or decrease it. Play in your regular clothes or your pyjamas or something like that, but not coloured shorts and numbered T-shirts. Do not play in two halves. Rather, play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves. Do not add extra time or penalties. Instead leave the field, because winning with extra time and penalty kicks is the pinnacle of imitating heretics and international rules. Young crowds should not gather to watch when you play because if you are there for the sake of sports and strengthening your bodies as you claimed, why would people watch you? You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts or uprights and then runs in order to get his friends to follow him and hug him like players in America or France do. You should use two posts instead of three pieces of wood or steel that you erect in order to put the ball between them, meaning that you should remove the crossbar. Do not do what is called "substitution," that is, taking the place of someone who has fallen, because this is a practice of the heretics.

This is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. I can't believe such a thing can be called, but by an insane man. It's so ridiculous, not even a 6 years old boy can believe it.

[Guardian]: The legal opinions proclaimed by Islamic scholars, known as fatwas, have proliferated in the Muslim world since the 1980s. The growth in fatwas - some of them contradictory - has led to debate over who can legitimately issue them. As part of a government drive to eliminate frivolous fatwas, the Saudi newspaper Al Watan recently published one such edict setting out new rules for football. We publish an edited translation here.

First Real Cinema Theater in Saudi

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 20:03:38 +0000

This report (Arabic) says that Riyadh will have it's first cinema theater launched by the first day of Eid Alfitr. The report says that the hotel hosted cinema will be big enough to take 1400 viewer at a time and will have three shows a day. That's all the good news. The bad ~~funny~~ news is the films. The cinema will show ONLY CARTOON MOVIES (in Arabic duologue). hahahaha... Hold on, hold on... the cinema will be dedicated to Females and kids ONLY.

It's really funny to hear this type of news. What are they afraid of? The type of content? In other words, ~~adult sceneries (kisses, dance, boobs, etc...), or~~ uncovered female head?

I just can't understand this double standards and closed mind Mullah's. Saudi businessmen (~~and officials~~) sponsors and owns the most wide and seen network of TV channels in the Arab world. All type of TV shows exist, starting from religious, to not less than xx movies and video clips. So, who will go to the cinema?

Education in Arabia

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:04:07 +0000

2nd Conference on Planning of Education & Applied Research in the Arab Countries. Location: Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Date: 13 November 2005. Related posts: Mesyaf (Summer Holiday) Marriage, New form of Prostitution in Saudi Arabia! Help Saudi Bloggers: Saudi Arabia Blocks Blogger and Flickr Creativity in Arabia! Related posts:

Prophet Grave

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 20:31:32 +0000

Saudi denies putting grave-cover of Prophet Mohammed into auction sale. Related posts: ‘Prophet’ Al-Zawahri Promises the Impossible Mesyaf (Summer Holiday) Marriage, New form of Prostitution in Saudi Arabia! Vote for Homeless Families in Gaza, Vote for Rachel Corrie Related posts:

Saudi King Fahd Dead!

Haitham Sabbah — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 08:50:07 +0000

Update: It is not anymore a rumor. King Fahd death is confirmed.

"With deep sorrow and pain, the royal court... mourns the death of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd due to illness," said an official statement read out on state television.

God bless his soul. Fahd, who was believed to be 83 and had been in poor health, had entered hospital on May 27 with acute pneumonia.

"The royal family members have acknowledged Crown Prince Abdullah as sovereign of the country ... after which the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and ruler of Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz chose Prince Sultan as crown prince and the family members acknowledged that," the statement said.

It's King Fahd. There are rumors that he's already dead. "He didn't go to hospital. He had a medical examination. Nothing has changed," one Saudi source said after rumours the monarch had fallen ill or even died helped depress Saudi shares by nearly five percent in Wednesday morning trade. A Western diplomat said he had heard "flat denials" from senior Saudi officials that Fahd's health had deteriorated. The Saudi Stock Market dropped 4.7 % today after the rumor spread.