Border Fence Plan In High Gear

[Leigh Meyers <leighcmeyers@xxxxxxxxx>]

What to do with all those windfall oil profits...?

Saudis plan long fence for Iraq border

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 56 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060927/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_saudi_fence_lh1

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with plans to build a fence to block 
terrorists from crossing its 560-mile border with Iraq â another sign of 
growing alarm that Sunni-Shiite strife could spill over and drag Iraq's 
neighbors into its civil conflict.

The barrier, which hasn't been started, is part of a $12 billion package 
of measures including electronic sensors, security bases and physical 
barriers to protect the oil-rich kingdom from external threats, said 
Nawaf Obaid, head of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project, an 
independent research institute that advises the Saudi government.

The ambitious project reflects not only concern over terrorism but also 
growing alarm over the situation in Iraq, where U.S. forces are 
struggling to prevent sectarian violence from escalating to full-scale 
civil war between that nation's Shiite majority and Sunni minority.

All of Iraq's neighbors, including the Saudis, fear the violence could 
spill over the borders and threaten their own security.

Saudi leaders worry about Sunni extremists returning home to wage war on 
the U.S.-allied monarchy or Shiite militants trying to stir up trouble 
among the Shiite minority.

The fence would do little to stop the flow of militants into Iraq 
because most are believed to cross from Syria, Jordan and Iran. U.S. and 
Iraqi officials have long complained about Saudi extremists joining 
insurgent groups in Iraq, but say they mostly go through Syria.

Obaid said the $1.8 billion spent since 2004 on shoring up Saudi border 
surveillance has sharply reduced the movement of militants heading into 
Iraq. He said the Saudi government is most concerned now with stopping 
infiltration into its own territory from Iraq.

"More importantly, the main issue is to seal the border on the Iraqi 
side since there has been almost no (Iraqi security) presence since the 
U.S. invasion," Obaid said.

In addition to political extremists, the Saudis want to prevent drug 
smugglers, weapons dealers and illegal migrants from using Iraq as an 
avenue into Saudi Arabia, he said.

At the southeastern corner of the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, meanwhile, 
the United Arab Emirates is building a barrier along its border with 
Oman â mainly to keep out illegal migrants â just as the U.S. Congress 
is considering a fence for parts of the U.S. border with Mexico. And 
Israel is trying to protect itself from suicide bombers by building 
barriers along its borders with Palestinian areas.

U.S. officials in Baghdad declined to comment on the Saudi plan, saying 
it was a matter between the two governments.

The spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry, Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim 
Khalaf, said Iraqi officials had heard of the Saudi plans to improve 
border security "and we thank them for it."

"If the Saudis want to build border defenses to stop the infiltration of 
terrorists, they can do that to protect their borders," he said.

Saudi officials, who rarely comment on security matters, declined to 
discuss the project.

Obaid said contracts for building the fence, expected to cost about $500 
million and take five to six years to finish, have not been awarded and 
work is not expected to begin before next year.

It is unclear whether the Saudis will actually in the end build a fence 
along the entire Iraqi border â virtually all barren desert â or simply 
at key crossing points.

Although the government in Riyadh has not released complete details of 
its plans, security experts familiar with the project said it would 
include electronic sensors and ultraviolet cameras capable of detecting 
any attempt to breach the fence.

The fence will not be electrified, but it will have sensors to alert 
security forces if anyone tries to cut through, said the experts, who 
agreed to discuss details only on condition of anonymity because they 
were not authorized to speak about the project to media.

The Middle East Economic Digest, a regional news magazine, reported this 
month that the barrier would have a double fence with 135 electronically 
controlled gates, fence-mounted movement detection sensors, buried radio 
detection sensors, and concertina razor wire. The magazine said the 
Saudi government planned to name an international firm to oversee the 
project.

U.S. officials said in April that Saudis were among the top five 
nationalities among foreign fighters captured by coalition forces in 
Iraq. Twenty-three Saudis were arrested in Iraq between September 2005 
and April, compared with 51 Syrians and 38 Egyptians, the officials said.

The Saudis are especially sensitive to the possibility of unrest among 
the country's Shiite minority because it is centered in the 
oil-producing east of the country.

In another sign of Saudi concern over sectarian tensions, the kingdom 
plans to host a meeting next month of top Iraqi Sunni and Shiite clerics 
in the holy city of Mecca in hopes of bridging differences between the 
sects.

___

AP writer Jim Krane is based in Dubai and is now on assignment in 
Afghanistan. AP correspondent-at-large Robert H. Reid contributed to 
this report from Amman, Jordan.