JEDDAH, 19 December 2003 — The US State Department has once again asked family members and non-essential personnel at the US Embassy and Consulate to consider leaving the Kingdom, this time offering free flights home. Private citizens have been advised to “evaluate their own security situations.”
This follows the directive confining US diplomats and their families to the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh and a curfew on diplomatic staff leaving the compound between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Stuart Patt, a spokesman for the Consular Affairs Bureau in Washington, confirmed that the State Department still advises private citizens to defer travel to Saudi Arabia.
The Department of State is offering free flights for authorized staff and families, a departure from normal procedure.
But Patt said that there was no particular new development that prompted the advisory. “It’s an accumulation of information,” he said. “And the State Department thought it prudent to issue it.”
Patt said free flights are offered “when we feel the situation is serious enough,” declining to be drawn further. He added the fact that departure is optional did not mean to say “that many or any will take it up.” Those who opt to remain are advised to remain vigilant, especially in public places associated with the Western community.
An FBI official recently said that there has been a “notable increase” in intelligence volume indicating that something is being planned in Saudi Arabia but that “no specific target is known.”
The latest warning reflects the accumulative effect of terrorism in Saudi Arabia over the past seven months, another State Department official said. “It’s a general environment — when we continue to see intelligence that tilts toward this plus the number of attacks.”
But US residents in the Kingdom are unimpressed.
“I am surprised at this new directive,” said Phil Taylor, a longtime US resident in the Kingdom.
“At first glance, it seems that the State Department knows something that it is not telling us. There is also the possibility that, for its own reasons, the administration wants to create a situation for some political benefit,” he added.
“It’s typical of diplomats,” said Jenny Bond, “to look after their own and advise us from a great distance.” She has lived and worked in the Kingdom over 20 years and is married to a Saudi businessman. “It’s just another day in your life. I feel no fear and I don’t intend to go anywhere.”
