Saudis kidnap dissident from Iraq

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FB703E90-AF58-4D3E-94F0-6F4A0DEC4E34.htm

A political dissident so desperate to flee Saudi Arabia that he hijacked a plane has himself been kidnapped.


Faisal al-Balawi was snatched off the streets of Baghdad by Jordanian intelligence officers and is now being held in a Saudi prison.

In a story not far removed from the plot of a Hollywood spy thriller, his friends say they now fear for al-Balawi's life.

Aljazeera.net has learnt from two independent sources that the government in Riyadh funded his dramatic kidnap and imprisonment.

With little security in the Iraqi capital and with an extremely porous border, seizing and smuggling dissidents back to Saudi Arabia has become increasingly easy.

<snip>

Wow, I thought Bremer had it all under control there. Sounds like Dodge City circa 1870 to me.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Bremer and the U.S. wouldn't have tried to stop this

Even if they had been able to. We're just keeping our Saudi friends happy.