Live from Saudi Arabia. . .

[catscradle]

I got a letter from one of our students in Riyadh the other day. His barracks were part of the suicide attack - he sent out a mass e-mail to let people know he's alright and I happened to be in his address book as we've exchanged several e-mails with regards to his classes. Anyway, I thought I'd share the e-mail, since it seems getting the message out is high on his priority list. Apparently, he knew the place was open for attack and despite pleas for more security and back up they were ignored.

Here's the letter:
I am okay.

At approximately 11:30 pm local time, a group of terrorists infiltrated
our compound and detonated a truck bomb next to one of the high-rise
housing buildings. The blast killed 7 US citizens and 2 Phillipines
citizens. The overpressure of the blast caved in the roofs of most of
the buildings on the camp, including my living quarters. It is an
absolute miracle that only 9 people died and only a small portion of the
camp population were injured. We have about 14 guys still in the
hospital, the two worst-injured are from my team. I cannot begin to tell
you of the heroism and selfless actions of the workforce in the absence
of any clear direction or crisis plan activity from the management of our
company and the severely slow reaction of any medical or emergency
units. It was military veteran and non-veteran employees who saved many
lives that night.

We are now housed on a secure US military facility with adequate military
police protection.

I could go into detail on what we suspect, what we know for sure, and so
on, but I want to get this message out to you so you know that I am safe,
the rest of the folks on our contract are generally safe, at least for
housing now.

Many issues need to be worked through and it is clear beyond a shadow of
a doubt that severe negligence on multiple levels allowed this situation
to occur. I won't go into more detail on that over email for obvious
reasons.

I have been able to take photos of the camp and the damage, which I will
compile and get out to you at some time in the future. Also, many other
guys were able to photograph the site and we are all swapping photos.
The four-story building with the US flag flying on top of it on the news
is on our compound and took the brunt of the blast. Two other compounds
were also hit with vehicle bombs, but the vehicles were not able to
penetrate the compound walls.

I now have internet access courtesy of the US Army so I can probably
answer and read emails daily or every other day or so, as we have only
six computers for close to 200 people.

I have received over 80 emails from friends and relatives which are still
in my inbox here, but I have not read them since I felt it's more
important now to get this email out to you. I will, given time, read
your individual email messages and I thank you all for your concern.

Any assistance you can give me in locating legal representation for
myself, but moreover for our workforce, is appreciated. We will need all
the help we can get as it seems no one is looking out for our best
interests other than food and shelter.

We are each in various stages and levels of post-traumatic stress. I ate
my first full meal today, four days after the blast; I've only had
appetite for juice and water and one cheese sandwich in that time
period. I've been in and out of the destroyed buildings retrieving
people's belongings, especially for the guys in the hospital who have no
clothes. I've gone to the camp every day and finally have most of my
items recovered.

We now have TV so we can watch the news from the US to see how it is
being portrayed. If you see the former US ambassador to Morrocco speak
on Fox News, that guy is right on the mark. He knows the deal.

There is no way to describe the horror of what some of the guys in that 4- story building went through, let alone the rest of us who took the cave
in of ceilings on top of us, our escape, our attempt to assist the
wounded and then the escape and evasion of the second team of terrorists
who swept through our housing area, some with weapons. The scene was the
same as 9/11 with everyone covered in fine dust; all of the black men
became white; the only color on any of us was the blood, which in the
night looked jet black against the powdered people.

I gave away my boots and shoes to folks who had none and were running on
broken glass and nails. I ran barefoot for nearly an hour, then a guy
gave me flip-flop sandals and later running shoes after the initial
threat was over.

The day following the blast, US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited
us, as did Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Security was lax, inadequate, and unable to stop a small team from
gaining access to our camp. Do not let anyone from anywhere tell you or
convince you differently. Time and again we had asked for more security
and it was never provided. We all knew this would happen one day, we
just never knew it would happen like this and especially that it would
happen from INSIDE our compound. It is sheer unadulterated negligence
and I will not stop until those responsible for allowing this to happen
are dealt with.

Also, the team that swept through our compound escaped over the back
wall. They are still out there. There is still a threat. The guys on
the truck with the bomb blew themselves to smithereens. I was walking
through those smithereens for four days now...many of us have been. I've
been wearing a surgical dust mask and work gloves, but that does little
to protect against what were apparently pressed-asbestos roof tiles that
smashed down on top of us, shredded my friend's leg to pieces, took out
another friends face, and put a bolt through another friend's leg...and
we were separated from the blast by two low buildings and a swimming pool
with two walls! Two guys who were on vacation at the time, good friends
of mine, are safe as a result of not being in the camp, but looking at
their rooms, they would have been killed instantly.

I'm sending this out now and will begin reading your individual emails
until someone else needs this computer....

Reporting live (thank goodness) from Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Comments

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks for sharing that.