WAR: Saudi Arabia Recalls Ambassador to Libya Over Crown Prince Abdullah Assassination Plot

Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador to Lybia over an apparent plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah. Abdullah is the defacto ruler of the Kingdom. Calling the plot atrocious, this latest move could latest sign in the eminent collapse of relations between the two countries. The Libyans expressed astonishment over the move and have asked the Arab league to investigate the matter.



The U.S. recently convicted a U.S. based Muslim activist, Abdurahman al-Amoudi, for his role in the plot to kill the crown prince. He claims that he was contacted by some Saudi dissidents on behalf of some Libyan officials to assassinate the crown prince. According to Saudi officials, a Libyan intelligence officer was in the process of organizing the assassination in the holy city of Mecca and had established a bank account with a balance of over $1 million dollars to finance the attempt. This is the first I have heard of this and I wonder what the motives are? Perhaps its related to oil production and quotas within OPEC? Beyond that I fail to see what is in it for the Libyans who have their new found Non-Pariah status to put at risk.

Once a plotter always a plotter many think of Khadaffi and who can blame them, just look at the past actions of Khadaffi, before he shook hands with Blair (wich was a fine example of pragmatism, showing how axis-of-evil is just one signature under a shell oilcontract away from best buddies....)

But on the other hand, the Saoudi aren't exactly fresh themselves, with many average saoudi getting fed up with the princes and the wahabists staging attacks at home, it might be a good time to find a new common enemy to steal the spotlight and distract from the rotten apples in their own basket?

BTW, Bush is visiting Europe in februari, If I were him I would really look out for an assasination attempt in Belgium, among the many muslim immigrants in Europe might be just a few sleeping cells that could be woken up to put him in the crosshairs? I would think that especially among the young Marrocans their would be enough dissatisfaction and macho culture to try something "heroic"...


[edit on 23-12-2004 by Countermeasures]