Word: mecca
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Even if a solid plan is negotiated, formidable obstacles to success in Iraq remain. The guerrilla war continues. The hajj - the annual pilgrimage to Mecca - will set large numbers of people moving through the country in January and February and provide wonderful cover for troublemakers. Thousands of U.S. troops will rotate in and out of Iraq in March and April, a process that may be vulnerable to major terrorist strikes. Still, there finally appears to be the outline of a plan to move from the current chaos to a new Iraqi government, recognized and supported by the international community...
...FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP-GETTY IMAGES SPORTS MECCA The city has no mosques. Plans to build one near the airport fizzled; the Orthodox church claims it will taint the skyline...
...tactic may backfire. The Saudi bombings pushed the complacent royal regime to crack down hard. In the past six months, Saudi police say they have foiled at least four plots, including a threat against the Holy Mosque in Mecca and a plan to assassinate leading Saudi writers and intellectuals who oppose Islamic extremism. More than 400 arrests have produced a wealth of information showing how al-Qaeda is honeycombed throughout the kingdom. Police raids have uncovered explosives, caches of rifles and operational necessities like computers, cell phones, counterfeit passports and disguises. Officers even found a stash of dresses and wigs...
...Osama bin Laden] has more or less evaporated," contends Saudi journalist Tariq Alhomayed. But the rotten public-relations fallout is not likely to alter al-Qaeda's plans. Saudi officials are preparing for the worst as 2 million of the faithful converge next week on the holy city of Mecca to celebrate the Eid ul-Fitr feast. Saudi officials say they dispatched 4,700 extra security forces there last week after foiling a plot that included plans to set off car bombs next to the Grand Mosque. Such attacks aim to undermine the authority of the Saudi royal family, whose...
...Which will collapse first? Swedes quizzed about their faith in national institutions said they trusted furniture mecca IKEA more than the country's government and politicians. Look out for a self-assembly parliament...