Saudi Oil Site Reportedly Attacked

roger: 'cause I thought that attacking western targets was the current strategy of Al Qaida. I'm puzzled that they would be so radical-islamist as to attack a country that constitutes basically an islamist theocracy.

No you've got them wrong there OE. Al Qaeda militants regard the Saudi regime as a Western imposed government which is there to do the bidding of the United States, particularly over oil. They see the Saudi royals and government as totally corrupt and failing the people...allowing the west to exploit the oil and accepting western protection to keep them in power.

Al-Ahmed, a Saudi scholar and expert on Saudi political affairs, estimates that the majority of Islamic landmarks in Saudi Arabia have already been destroyed. Islamic architecture expert Sami Angawi told media earlier this year that at least 300 historical buildings have been leveled in Mecca and Medina over the past 50 years.

"A telling example is the house where the Prophet Mohammed was born and [another] house he lived in until he was 29 are going to be demolished," Al-Ahmed said. Also destroyed was the 18th -century Ottoman-era Ajyad Fort. "They destroyed it at night. They blew up the hill where the fort was situated to make room for hotels," Al-Ahmed said.

In 2002, the Saudi Embassy released a statement saying the fort was not listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site and that the Saudi government had called for its "rebuilding by experts in the same traditional way it was first built and at the same location, albeit not on Bulbul Hill."

Other reportedly destroyed sites cited by Al-Ahmed include: the first house in Islam, where the prophet Mohamed held secret meetings with his followers, which was destroyed in the 1980s; the houses of the prophet in Medina, where he lived for the last 10 years of his life; the Al-Fadik mosque in Medina built during Mohammed's life and destroyed in July 2003; and the Ali Al-Oraidi Mosque and Shrine in Medina destroyed in 2004. "It had been in operation for 1,200 years," said Al-Ahmed.

Behind the destruction is the Wahhabist strain of Islam, which seeks to destroy any revered physical structures that clerics believe could lead believers to idolatry, said Al-Ahmed. Real-estate development, especially around Mecca and Medina, which hosts millions of pilgrims every year, is also a major factor.

Religious politics also plays a role. When authorities allegedly destroyed one of the five renowned "Seven Mosques" built by the Prophet Mohammed's daughter and four of his "greatest Companions," Wahhabists were approving. "The mosques are not welcomed by Wahhabis," said Al-Ahmed. "It's partly political. They don't want Shia to go there to pray."

When did bin Laden turn against the Saudi royal family?
Bin Laden, a Saudi himself, broke with the Saudi monarchy over the Gulf War and now avidly seeks its overthrow. In 1990, bin Laden approached the Saudi defense minister and volunteered to mobilize veterans of the 1979-89 Afghan jihad against Soviet occupation to defend Saudi Arabia against Iraq. The Saudi government declined his offer, preferring to rely instead on the U.S.-led coalition assembled by President George H. W. Bush. Ever since, bin Laden has resented the presence of "infidel troops" on the holy land where the Prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the seventh century.