The Siege of Mecca:
The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of al-Qaeda
by Yaroslav Trofimov

We have gone to war to beat the shit out of Afghanis and Iraqis. How many Afghanis and Iraqis were on board those planes that flew into the World Trade Center? 0. The were mostly from Saudia Arabia. And why would that be? Is there something that our fearful leaders don't want to admit? Or are they just to stupid to know? Here is a bit of history that explains quite a bit of why there were so many Saudi Arabians. This event was a really big domino that toppled many other dominos right into the World Trade Center. From Amazon:

Trofimov, a Wall Street Journal writer and observer of the Muslim world (Faith at War), tackles an incident unreported in the West: the violent takeover of Islam's holiest shrine by Muslim fundamentalists in 1979. Carrying out his investigations in one of the world's most closed societies, Trofimov has crafted a compelling historical narrative, blending messianic theology with righteous violence, and the Saudi state's sclerotic corruption with the complicity of the official religious institutions. Trofimov aptly points out endemic regional problems with enduring repercussions for fighting terror, but is hampered by his sensationalist style (The world was twelve months away from the tumultuous events that would cover the mosque's marble courtyard with blood, spilled guts and severed limbs). In 1979, the Saudi intelligence services apparently had no accurate blueprints of the Grand Mosque, and knew nothing of the underground labyrinth where many of the militants took shelter; they eventually received plans to the site from Osama bin Laden's older brother. Ringleader Juhayman and his followers have inspired al-Qaeda and countless other Islamic revivalist movements to ever greater acts of violence, even though they were mesmerized by their limited understanding of an obscurantist theology and were convinced that that one of their unassuming members was the Messiah. Casual readers will be well served by this introduction to Muslim fundamentalist terrorism.

There is a really informative website to along with the book.

The Siege of Mecca

On November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morning—the first of a new Muslim century—hundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam’s holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times. Led by a Saudi preacher named Juhayman al Uteybi, they believed that the Saudi royal family had become a craven servant of American infidels, and sought a return to the glory of uncompromising Islam. With nearly 100,000 worshippers trapped inside the holy compound, Mecca’s bloody siege lasted two weeks, inflaming Muslim rage against the United States and causing hundreds of deaths.

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The Siege of Mecca

There has been such a tsunami of lies, diversions and dissembling from the Bush Administration over the years, it is baffling as to where to begin to unravel the truth. But when it comes to the major demagogic tool of the Busheviks to stay in power and make the Democrats on the Hill cower in fear, there is nothing like the cudgel of Al-Qaeda to conquer the truth. The truth is that Al-Qaeda is a creature born and nurtured in Saudi Arabia and by Saudi Arabians. Although the Saudi Arabian government officially is an "ally" with the Busheviks in the so-called "war on terror," the royal family,the military and the police are riddled with behind-the-scenes supporters of radical Islamists. Furthermore, the Saudi royal family has allowed the most extreme Wahhabi mullahs to spread anti-Western hate through the creation of radical schools throughout the Middle East. This buys the royal family time to stay in power by giving extremists a lot of running room to promote terrorism against the West. The attack on Iraq was one of the biggest bait and switches of all time when it comes to dealing with Al-Qaeda. Saddam had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda; they posed a threat to his tyrannical rule in a basically secular state. Saudi Arabia has had everything to do with Al-Qaeda, including funding the small Al-Qaeda force in Iraq (less than 5% of the insurgency by most accounts; 95% of the opposition to the occupation is indigenous Iraqi.) In fact, the largest percentage of the small Al-Qaeda force in Iraq is composed of Saudi Arabian fighters, following in the path of their Saudi Arabian leader who Bush perhaps intentionally let get away, Osama bin Laden. But "The Siege of Mecca" is not about recent events, although it is a new book, published this September. It is about the pivotal historical event in 1979 that gave birth to the modern Al-Qaeda movement, the siege of Mecca by Islamic extremists.

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Did 'Siege of Mecca' Give Birth to Al-Qaida?

All Things Considered, September 22, 2007 · In November 1979, gunmen in Mecca seized Islam's holiest shrine to proclaim the arrival of the Muslim messiah. It took Saudi forces, aided by French commandos, two weeks to flush the rebels out of Mecca. Author Yaroslav Trofimov argues that the way the rebellion was quashed helped spawn the birth of al-Qaida. Trofimov discusses his book with Jacki Lyden.

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Yaroslav Trofimov on the Siege of Mecca

Fresh Air from WHYY, September 27, 2007 · A foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Yaroslav Trofimov traces the beginning of the global jihad to Nov. 20, 1979. It was the first morning of the new Muslim century, and hundreds of fundamentalist gunmen seized Islam's holiest shrine — the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The event and its ringleaders have since inspired militants, including al-Qaida.

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Grand Mosque Seizure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia