Usually a Big Fan - Disappointed this Time
Reader comment on item: Might the Saudis Blow Up Their Oil Infrastructure?

Submitted by Adam (United States), May 13, 2005 at 16:49

I am usually a big fan of Daniel Pipes and all the fine work he does on his website.
However, I feel in this case he should not be pushing forward this theory. This is conspiracy-theorism and fear-mongering.

BTW, I am an energy consultant by profession, and the idea that the Saudis could secretly rig their massive infrastructure with dirty bomb explosives is just plain ridiculous. Let's think about this logically for a moment...

1) An operation of that size and scope CANNOT slip under the noses of the intelligence agencies. For sake of comparison, remember the incredible lengths we had to go to keep the Los Alamos project secret, or the secretiveness surrounding any country's WMD program, or any other large super-secret state project. What you conjecture that the Saudis did is much bigger in scale than any of those projects because it is spread out over a much larger infrastructure.

2) Not to mention that most workers in the Saudi oil exploration, drilling, production, gathering and pipeline infrastructure are Westerners. How can all this be done without them noticing?

3) Why would the Saudis set up a self-destruct button in a country that has a large number of Islamists, including double-agents, etc. that would be all-too-happy to push said button.

The only plausible explanation is that the Saudis know that half of the world's intelligence agencies are taping/bugging certain high-level conversations. So, they want to spread this rumor to deter any thought of hostile action.

Again, Daniel I am a huge fan, but just felt compelled to try to inject some thoughtful reasoning in this discussion. BTW, did you hear that some Islamists are suing FOX News and the Boston Herald regarding some Boston Islamic Center or other? I saw it in the Boston Globe yesterday.

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