did state cover up a saudi suicide bombing?
Mon, Jul 22, 2002 at 3:14:57 pm PDT
The St. Petersburg Times is running a five-part series titled Inside Saudi Arabia that’s quite good. But today’s installment contains a real bombshell (no pun intended).
On October 6, 2001 an American named Michael Martin, working for US energy firm Halliburton, was killed in a suicide bombing in downtown Khobar—and Saudi authorities identified the bomber as a 30-year old Palestinian.
On the night of Oct. 6, Martin and a co-worker went to the Al-Mushiri Trading Establishment on busy King Khaled Street in downtown Khobar. The store, well-stocked with knives, watches and electronic gear, was popular with Western expatriates because of its comparatively cheap prices. Knowing Martin, relatives say, he had started buying Christmas presents for his fiance and two children.
Ibrahim Al-Mushiri, the store's owner, was across the street when he heard a boom. He rushed back to his store to find Martin dead of gaping chest wounds, another body in bits and pieces, and five men injured. None of his employees was hurt even though the blast shattered every window, destroyed much of the merchandise and hurled one of the bomber's hands 30 feet to the back of the store.
Al-Mushiri says Martin's co-worker told him they had noticed a man following them down the street that evening. He apparently waited while they shopped, then grabbed Martin as he came out of the store.
Initially, Saudi authorities floated the idea that this, too, might be related to the illegal liquor trade. A few weeks later, though, they identified the bomber as a 30-year-old Palestinian dentist who worked at a clinic in Riyadh but visited his father in the Khobar area on weekends. A search of the father's house turned up traces of explosives and two valid Indian passports, police said.
Martin's family back in the states finds this story strange. What was a Saudi father doing with a Palestinian son who had Indian passports and Egyptian travel documents?
"This was the only Palestinian bombing ever in the history of Saudi Arabia and right there that raises flags," said Martin's brother, Darrell.
"It's tough when you have the Saudis investigating. What if a Saudi dissident actually did it instead of a Palestinian -- what would that have done to our (relations) between the two countries, right after Sept. 11 especially?"
Martin's relatives say they got little help or information from the U.S. State Department and never heard from Saudi authorities. They're irked, too, that the Saudis kept Martin's body for a month.
The LGF reader who tipped us to this article wrote that he was a major news junkie in October 2001 (as was I) and he heard absolutely nothing about this potentially major story. And neither did I.
There’s something extremely weird about this. I smell a Foggy Bottom cover up.
