Word: arabia
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...Towers of Babel What is the difference between Saudi Arabia banning churches with bell towers and Switzerland banning minarets [Dec. 14]? The Swiss are accused of discrimination, yet Saudi Arabia is not. Aren't these decisions a gift to extremism and intolerance? And why does the media condemn the Swiss but not mention the Saudi ban? Make up your minds: Which is more extreme, Islamic or Christian culture? Gerhard Heinzelmann Gravesend, England...
Towers of Babel What is the difference between Saudi Arabia banning churches with bell towers and Switzerland banning minarets [Dec. 14]? The Swiss are accused of discrimination, yet Saudi Arabia is not. Aren't these decisions a gift to extremism and intolerance? And why does the media condemn the Swiss but not mention the Saudi ban? Make up your minds: Which is more extreme, Islamic or Christian culture? Gerhard Heinzelmann, GRAVESEND, ENGLAND...
...remains skeptical that the Yemenis would be as effective at running such a program as the Saudis, because Saudi Arabia's survival as a regime depends on suppressing its extremist threat. In Yemen, with little government ability to monitor released former Gitmo detainees in the hinterlands of the nation, a program could probably not guarantee the Saudi level of success. And even Saudi Arabia's 15% recidivism rate is problematic: the No. 2 leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group that allegedly trained the Christmas Day bomber, is a graduate of the Saudi program...
...Troubled History Stretched around the southern heel of the Arabian Peninsula and home to 23.8 million people - compared with 28.7 million in neighboring Saudi Arabia - Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. It has a long history of being both a source of militants and a staging ground for jihadist attacks. In 2000, al-Qaeda fighters rammed an explosives-packed speedboat into the U.S.S. Cole in the port of Aden, killing 17 sailors. Militants have also attacked the U.S. embassy in Sana'a several times...
...detainee who was released in 2007, AQAP may constitute 200 core members supported by thousands of locals. Terrorism experts worry that with a firm footing in Yemen, al-Qaeda can coordinate with Red Sea pirates operating from Somalia and eventually reach the Suez Canal - or launch attacks in Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf countries. "Anyone who has been to Yemen knows that automatic arms, explosives, even rockets are sold out in the open - on street corners - often by people who make no secret of their Islamist affinities," says a French counterterrorism official. "It's been this enormous crossroads...