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killing people and taking hostages in the mosque is part of your culture.
Seizure
In the early morning of November 20, 1979, the imam of the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil, was preparing to lead the prayers for the fifty thousand worshipers who had gathered for the first prayer of the Islamic year. He was interrupted by insurgents who procured weapons from under their robes, chained the gates shut and killed several policemen.[12] The number of insurgents has been given as "at least 500"[13] and "four to five hundred", which included several women and children who had joined Otaibi's movement.[11] At the time, the Grand Mosque was being renovated by the Saudi Binladin Group in what was the most prestigious construction contract in the Islamic world. An employee of the organization was able to report the seizure to corporate headquarters before the insurgents cut the telephone lines. A representative of the Binladin Group was thus the first to notify King Khalid.[8]
The insurgents released most of the hostages, locking the remainder in the sanctuary, and took positions in the upper levels of the mosque, with snipers in the minarets, from which they commanded the grounds. No one outside the mosque knew how many hostages remained, how many militants were in the mosque and what sort of preparations they had made. Soon after the seizure, about a hundred security officers from the Interior Ministry attempted to retake the mosque and were decisively turned back with heavy casualties. The survivors were quickly joined by units of the Saudi Army and National Guard. The Pakistan Army, which was stationed at the city of Tabuk, was also called in to retake the shrine after poor results from the Saudi National Guard.[8]
By the evening, the entire city of Mecca had been evacuated. Prince Sultan, then-Minister of Defense, rushed to the city to set up a field command. Sultan appointed his nephew Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, head of the Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah, to take over the forward command post several hundred meters from the mosque, where Turki would remain for the next several weeks. However, the first order of business was to seek the approval of the ulema, which was led by Abdul Aziz bin Baz. The Qur'an forbids any violence within the Grand Mosque, to the extent that plants cannot be uprooted without explicit religious sanction. ibn Baaz found himself in a delicate situation, especially as he had previously taught Otaibi in Medina. Regardless, the ulema issued a fatwa allowing deadly force to be used in retaking the mosque.[14]
[edit] Siege
With religious approval granted, Prince Sultan ordered frontal assaults on three of the main gates, preceded by an artillery barrage. The assaulting force never got close to breaking through the insurgents' defenses, while snipers continued to pick off members of the security forces whenever they showed themselves. The mosque's public address system was used to broadcast the insurgents' message throughout the streets of Mecca. Confusion reigned at the field command, where several senior princes, the heads of the armed forces and military attachés from France and Pakistan gave contradictory advice. In the middle of the day, Sultan ordered helicopters to lower troops on ropes directly into the courtyard in the center of the mosque, which turned out to be a suicide mission. At this point, King Khalid appointed Turki head of the operation.[15]
On November 25, the Arab Socialist Action Party - Arabian Peninsula issued a statement from Beirut alleging to clarify the demands of the insurgents. The party, however, denied any involvement of its own in the seizure.[16]
Lawrence Wright reports that only three Frenchmen were called in, members of the highly trained GIGN counter-terrorism unit. Because non-Muslims are not allowed in the holy city, they converted to Islam in a brief formal ceremony by Saudi religious leaders.[17] Saudi officials deny the French actually entered Mecca. According to Wright, who interviewed Saudi officials, flooding and electrocuting were dismissed as impractical and lethal to the hostages, but an attempt to subdue the resistance with non-lethal gas failed also. Grenades were dropped into the chambers through holes that were drilled in the mosque courtyard, and, more than two weeks after the revolt began, "the surviving rebels finally surrendered." [18]
The battle officially left "255 pilgrims, troops and fanatics" killed "another 560 injured ... although diplomats suggested the toll was higher." Military casualties were 127 dead and 451 injured. [19]
[edit] The Bin Laden family's alleged involvement
The Bin Laden family and business resources were allegedly involved in this conflict. Dr. Daly, an adjunct scholar at Washington's Middle East Institute and author of Jane's Intelligence Review, says, "It has been reported that one of Osama's half brothers was arrested as a sympathizer of the takeover but was later exonerated."[citation needed]
According to Cooperative Research:
In the 1960s Osama bin Laden's half-brother Mahrous bin Laden joined a rebel group opposed to the Saudi government. With his assistance, in 1979 the rebels smuggled weapons into Mecca, Saudi Arabia, using trucks belonging to the bin Laden family company. 500 rebels then seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca (sic), Islam's holiest mosque in its holiest city. They try, but fail, to overthrow the Saudi royal family. All the men who took part are later beheaded except Mahrous. Eventually he is released from prison because of the close ties between the bin Ladens and the Saudi royal family. Mahrous apparently abandons the rebel cause and joins the family business. He is eventually made a head of the Medina branch and a member of the board. He will still hold these positions on 9/11. But a newspaper reports that "his past [is] not forgiven and most important decisions in the [bin Laden family business] are made without Mahrous' input."[20][21] [22]
Lawrence Wright reports that the bin Laden family actually provided important assistance in taking back the mosque by providing maps and technical information about the mosque critical in the assault.[23]
Steve Coll's Ghost Wars states that the weapons were transported into the mosque prior to the takeover.[24] Bin Laden company trucks were a common sight in the mosque, as the company won a contract to renovate and modernize the mosque in 1973. The bin Ladens did help the regime during the takeover, by giving Saudi security forces the architectural plans for the site.
[edit] Aftermath
The insurgents were anti-Western and included in their demands, broadcast from the mosque loudspeakers, the cutoff of oil exports to the United States and expulsion of all foreign civilian and military experts from the Arabian peninsula.[25] Nonetheless, in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini told radio listeners, "It is not beyond guessing that this is the work of criminal American imperialism and international Zionism." [26] [27]
Grand Mosque Seizure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seizure
In the early morning of November 20, 1979, the imam of the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Mohammed al-Subayil, was preparing to lead the prayers for the fifty thousand worshipers who had gathered for the first prayer of the Islamic year. He was interrupted by insurgents who procured weapons from under their robes, chained the gates shut and killed several policemen.[12] The number of insurgents has been given as "at least 500"[13] and "four to five hundred", which included several women and children who had joined Otaibi's movement.[11] At the time, the Grand Mosque was being renovated by the Saudi Binladin Group in what was the most prestigious construction contract in the Islamic world. An employee of the organization was able to report the seizure to corporate headquarters before the insurgents cut the telephone lines. A representative of the Binladin Group was thus the first to notify King Khalid.[8]
The insurgents released most of the hostages, locking the remainder in the sanctuary, and took positions in the upper levels of the mosque, with snipers in the minarets, from which they commanded the grounds. No one outside the mosque knew how many hostages remained, how many militants were in the mosque and what sort of preparations they had made. Soon after the seizure, about a hundred security officers from the Interior Ministry attempted to retake the mosque and were decisively turned back with heavy casualties. The survivors were quickly joined by units of the Saudi Army and National Guard. The Pakistan Army, which was stationed at the city of Tabuk, was also called in to retake the shrine after poor results from the Saudi National Guard.[8]
By the evening, the entire city of Mecca had been evacuated. Prince Sultan, then-Minister of Defense, rushed to the city to set up a field command. Sultan appointed his nephew Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, head of the Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah, to take over the forward command post several hundred meters from the mosque, where Turki would remain for the next several weeks. However, the first order of business was to seek the approval of the ulema, which was led by Abdul Aziz bin Baz. The Qur'an forbids any violence within the Grand Mosque, to the extent that plants cannot be uprooted without explicit religious sanction. ibn Baaz found himself in a delicate situation, especially as he had previously taught Otaibi in Medina. Regardless, the ulema issued a fatwa allowing deadly force to be used in retaking the mosque.[14]
[edit] Siege
With religious approval granted, Prince Sultan ordered frontal assaults on three of the main gates, preceded by an artillery barrage. The assaulting force never got close to breaking through the insurgents' defenses, while snipers continued to pick off members of the security forces whenever they showed themselves. The mosque's public address system was used to broadcast the insurgents' message throughout the streets of Mecca. Confusion reigned at the field command, where several senior princes, the heads of the armed forces and military attachés from France and Pakistan gave contradictory advice. In the middle of the day, Sultan ordered helicopters to lower troops on ropes directly into the courtyard in the center of the mosque, which turned out to be a suicide mission. At this point, King Khalid appointed Turki head of the operation.[15]
On November 25, the Arab Socialist Action Party - Arabian Peninsula issued a statement from Beirut alleging to clarify the demands of the insurgents. The party, however, denied any involvement of its own in the seizure.[16]
Lawrence Wright reports that only three Frenchmen were called in, members of the highly trained GIGN counter-terrorism unit. Because non-Muslims are not allowed in the holy city, they converted to Islam in a brief formal ceremony by Saudi religious leaders.[17] Saudi officials deny the French actually entered Mecca. According to Wright, who interviewed Saudi officials, flooding and electrocuting were dismissed as impractical and lethal to the hostages, but an attempt to subdue the resistance with non-lethal gas failed also. Grenades were dropped into the chambers through holes that were drilled in the mosque courtyard, and, more than two weeks after the revolt began, "the surviving rebels finally surrendered." [18]
The battle officially left "255 pilgrims, troops and fanatics" killed "another 560 injured ... although diplomats suggested the toll was higher." Military casualties were 127 dead and 451 injured. [19]
[edit] The Bin Laden family's alleged involvement
The Bin Laden family and business resources were allegedly involved in this conflict. Dr. Daly, an adjunct scholar at Washington's Middle East Institute and author of Jane's Intelligence Review, says, "It has been reported that one of Osama's half brothers was arrested as a sympathizer of the takeover but was later exonerated."[citation needed]
According to Cooperative Research:
In the 1960s Osama bin Laden's half-brother Mahrous bin Laden joined a rebel group opposed to the Saudi government. With his assistance, in 1979 the rebels smuggled weapons into Mecca, Saudi Arabia, using trucks belonging to the bin Laden family company. 500 rebels then seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca (sic), Islam's holiest mosque in its holiest city. They try, but fail, to overthrow the Saudi royal family. All the men who took part are later beheaded except Mahrous. Eventually he is released from prison because of the close ties between the bin Ladens and the Saudi royal family. Mahrous apparently abandons the rebel cause and joins the family business. He is eventually made a head of the Medina branch and a member of the board. He will still hold these positions on 9/11. But a newspaper reports that "his past [is] not forgiven and most important decisions in the [bin Laden family business] are made without Mahrous' input."[20][21] [22]
Lawrence Wright reports that the bin Laden family actually provided important assistance in taking back the mosque by providing maps and technical information about the mosque critical in the assault.[23]
Steve Coll's Ghost Wars states that the weapons were transported into the mosque prior to the takeover.[24] Bin Laden company trucks were a common sight in the mosque, as the company won a contract to renovate and modernize the mosque in 1973. The bin Ladens did help the regime during the takeover, by giving Saudi security forces the architectural plans for the site.
[edit] Aftermath
The insurgents were anti-Western and included in their demands, broadcast from the mosque loudspeakers, the cutoff of oil exports to the United States and expulsion of all foreign civilian and military experts from the Arabian peninsula.[25] Nonetheless, in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini told radio listeners, "It is not beyond guessing that this is the work of criminal American imperialism and international Zionism." [26] [27]
Grand Mosque Seizure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
smitten:
) and I can only hope that circumstances were so desperate as to require such.
