Saudis mull electric fence on Iraqi border

[Barrett808]

Saudis mull electric fence on Iraqi border
By Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - Apparently concerned that fighting in Iraq could spill over into this oil-rich kingdom, Saudi Arabia is considering a major fortification of its 500-mile border with Iraq.

"The government is thinking of building an electrified fence along the whole border with Iraq in case things go really badly in Iraq, and it starts falling apart," says a security adviser to the Saudi government, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the government has not made any official announcement of such plans.It has, however, admitted that it is looking at strengthening its border defenses.

"We are currently conducting a study on technical defense systems which we can use to beef up security measures along the border," Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told the daily Al-Riyadh.

The border with Iraq lies mostly in barren desert. A 20-foot-tall sand berm that runs its entire length provides the first line of defense. Parallel to that is a second berm and a tall fence topped with barbed wire, with a six-mile-wide no-man's land separating the two barriers.

But despite the barriers and extensive electronic surveillance by Saudi border guards using motion detectors and night-vision cameras, some US critics have claimed that suicide bombers have been sneaking across the Saudi border into Iraq to join the insurgency.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060420/wl_csm/ofence

[Jacobin]

1. More Good News!!!!

"The government is thinking of building an electrified fence along the whole border with Iraq in case things go really badly in Iraq, and it starts falling apart," says a security adviser to the Saudi government"

[MADem]

2. Is the idea to keep them out, or prevent their own from leaving easily??

I mean, come on....direct a few mortars on that electric fence, and poooof, it ain't gonna stop shit!

And hey, if ya wanna go to Baghdad, just head to Kuwait or Jordan; the best highways go from there, anyway...

[0007]

12. Agreed. Dumb, very dumb idea.

[Canuckistanian]

3. They should get together with the Minutemen

To share fencing ideas
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=974297

[saigon68]

7. To share fencing ideas

LOL

Good one-- Isn't there one being built on the West Bank Too?

[Canuckistanian]

8. That's more of a 40' tall wall

Looks more like the Great Wall of China rather that the conservative euphemism of "security fence"

[elvisbear]

9. You're right, wall is a better description.

The security fence in East Jerusalem:

[saigon68]

10. That's no fence

The East Germans never built anything like that, in the 60's. Its huge

[Roland99]

4. They don't care about jihadists going *into* Iraq, though.

[davepc]

5. bunch of xenophobic racists

Iraqis just want to enter into Saudi Arabia for a better life and opportunity away from the brutal existence in their own homeland. Who are the Saudi government to deny people a better life in a land of opportunity?

[Critters2]

13. And it used to all be one big nation, before the imposed boundaries

Break out the flags!!

[Teaser]

6. Don't whiz on it

nt

[Az_lefty]

11. Kuwait built a giant trench you can't drive a tank across...

[rug]

14. Maybe the Minutemen can get the contract.