[Triffin]

Let's see ..

Draw a line in the sand ( again ) and
Sunnis on the left ..
Shi'as on the right ..

Or perhaps our foreign policy goals are
to keep these two groups at one another's
throats .. just on a slow boil .. Keep them busy
fighting one another while we grab the oil ..

Resource War ?? Why bother .. We only care
that the crude is extracted and placed on the
market ..

Triff ..

[careinke]

My wife is going to look for the movie today(The Kingdom). I'll let you know how it compares to the real thing. My first trip to Saudi was in 1980, then on and off till I retired from the military. After I retired in 1994, I went over there to work until 2004. So I know a little about the country and people.

Cliff (Start a revolution, grow a garden)

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', ' ')I'll let you know how it compares to the real thing.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Magus', '
')Now as for the rest of the Muslim world, you get some good ones, some bad ones. Just like in Christianity, or any large group of people, for that matter. Gross generalizations tend to do more harm than good.

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AWPrime', 'S')ure I have met many nice moslims, however there are some characteristics that do concern me:
- Highly sexist
- Overly protective of (their) religion

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Magus', '
')Now as for the rest of the Muslim world, you get some good ones, some bad ones. Just like in Christianity, or any large group of people, for that matter. Gross generalizations tend to do more harm than good.

[dbruning]

"three months after I left, they blew up the villa I was living in."

That'll teach ya for messing with the Shiek's daughter

[AWPrime]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('zensui', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AWPrime', 'S')ure I have met many nice moslims, however there are some characteristics that do concern me:
- Highly sexist
- Overly protective of (their) religion

[3aidlillahi]

Do we really need these threads to reappear every couple of weeks? We get it already. Muslims commit crimes, Christians commit crimes, Jews commit crimes, atheists commit crimes, etc etc.

[Pops]

I'm thinking WWII ain't over yet.

Tell me which current conflict can't be traced back to that resource induced war of the early 20th century and the colonialism of the 18th & 19th and further?

[3aidlillahi]

Delete plz.

[Denny]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('janser', 'I') dont think muslims are so peacefull as anyone seems to think. For starters they are not very tolerant to christians living in their countrys. In many muslim country if a muslims becomes a christian he can get the dead penalty. Also no church in saudi-arabia are allowed to be build. But in many christian countries muslims have al the freedom to practice there religion. So to me that makes the christians more tolerant and friendlier towards other people and religions then muslims...

[Blacksmith]

"Almost Gauranteed", now you sound like Best Buy.

[careinke]

Ferretlover,

Well we just finished watching “The Kingdom” and I got to give them credit they did a good job. If I did not know that it was not shot in Riyadh, I would have been asking myself how they managed to shoot this in Saudi. Through cinema magic, a lot of the buildings and streets in the film were ones that I was familiar with in Saudi. The costumes were good, the Arabic was correct, and most of the culture stuff was right on. Obviously the technical director had been to Riyadh and probably to Prince Sultan Airbase in Al Kharj. Kind of made me wax nostalgic.

Now for the criticism, I know they had to take some poetic license, but there is no way the female FBI agent would be dressed that way off the compound. She would have had to wear an Abiya (The black robe) and a scarf covering her hair or the Matawa (Religious police) would have been all over her.

In addition, I am not aware of any Oil Company compounds in Riyadh. They are located on the two coasts by Dhahran and Jeddah. The western compounds in Riyadh are primarily for diplomatic and defense contractor purposes. All of the compounds are surrounded by concrete walls at least eight feet high. This is not just applicable to western compounds. All compounds and single dwelling houses (Saudi and western) are surrounded by high walls. So the shoot out scene at the end should have had walls surrounding the apartment buildings.

Finally there should have been a lot more prayer calls. You can’t miss them by law, you can not build a building that is not within earshot of a mosque. The whole country runs on prayer time, all of the shops are shuttered and all business stops during prayer (five times a day).

Overall a pretty good flick and for the most part technically correct.

Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)

[Ferretlover]

Thanks, Careinke!
I always discount the "poetic license" factor, but, I wasn't sure how much to allow because I have never been in the ME.
I found myself being a little surprised when the parts came up at what one could and couldn't do-cultural differences-and, at the very tight control that TPTB force on people.
Wasn't it sad when the kid shot the cop?

[light]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', 'I') have to agree that Muslims are being used as scape goats to justify resource wars.

The only way a true world war III would break out would be is if Russia tries to make some power plays and oust the US from central Asia. Then maybe we get a WW3.

[Roy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey will cry peace, and there will be no peace.
A day of fierce burning and wrath.
The thorns and thistles will crackle into smook, the earth will be dark and void. The stalls will be empty.

[cowuvula]

Don't buy any long playing records.

[Kaj]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GASMON', '
')
You Yanks are new at this game. We english & others in europe have been involved in "the great punishment" since first crusade was launched in AD 1096. Over 1000 years ago.

...

KAAK - Bad religion, Bad people.

Gasmon