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So. I guess it's time to write some reflections on the deaths that took place in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, this weekend. My understanding is that four young gunmen went on a shooting spree in some oil company offices and then retreated to a residential compound called the Oasis (soberingly ironic motto: "At The Oasis, Life in Saudi Arabia is not what it used to be!"). There, the terrorists held hundreds of people hostage and killed 22 before stopped by Saudi commandos. I keep seeing in the news that they attacked "Westerners," but more Indians were killed than Europeans & Americans, so I don't know quite what is meant by "Westerner." Everyone seems to agree they were targetting Christians. One Arab Christian survived by pointing to a friend's Qur'an and pretending it was his.
I can't find a great map of the area, but it looks to me like Khobar is around 200 miles from Doha, by land road. Khobar is also at the west end of the causeway that links Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. So, I think this is the closest terrorism has come to Qatar yet.
I have to admit I was pretty frightened when I heard about it. What's to say that this won't happen in Doha while we're there? Yes, Al Qaeda has always been closely linked to Saudia Arabia and has a particular vendetta against the Saudi royal family, and no such connection exists in Qatar. On the other hand, the group that claimed responsibility calls itself the Al Qaeda cell in the Saudi peninsula -- not just the Saudi kingdom. So yes, despite all the assurances of our security experts, I am scared that something like this could happen to us.
What would I say if a man with a gun to my head asked me if I were a Christian? Yes? No? I worship the same God that you do? Would I quote the Qur'an and say, Let there be no compulsion in religion? Not only do I not know the answer; I'm not sure what I think the "right" answer is. Would saying Yes be heroic, or just dumb?
Logically, thought, I know that it would be silly for fear of terrorism to keep me from going to Qatar. The truth is that I'm probably safer there than here -- Khobar's murder rate (22/195,000) is still lower than Pittsburgh's (16.1/100,000). (Of course, there may be some other murders there this year, but since the entire country of Saudi Arabia has only 105 murders a year it could hardly be more than one or two.)
I guess it's like comparing plane crashes with car crashes: I'm always more nervous at lift-off than I am taking the car out of the garage, but lifetime odds of dying in a car wreck are 19 times higher than dying in a plane wreck. I am going to be safer in Qatar than I am in Pittsburgh, even if it doesn't feel that way.
I am hesitating to post this, because it seems pretty callous. Twenty-two people are dead, horribly and wastefully dead, and here I am calculating statistics and thinking what it means for ME. But I'm trying to record all my experiences related to moving to Qatar here, and this is definitely the thought process I've been carrying around since this weekend.
I can't find a great map of the area, but it looks to me like Khobar is around 200 miles from Doha, by land road. Khobar is also at the west end of the causeway that links Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. So, I think this is the closest terrorism has come to Qatar yet.
I have to admit I was pretty frightened when I heard about it. What's to say that this won't happen in Doha while we're there? Yes, Al Qaeda has always been closely linked to Saudia Arabia and has a particular vendetta against the Saudi royal family, and no such connection exists in Qatar. On the other hand, the group that claimed responsibility calls itself the Al Qaeda cell in the Saudi peninsula -- not just the Saudi kingdom. So yes, despite all the assurances of our security experts, I am scared that something like this could happen to us.
What would I say if a man with a gun to my head asked me if I were a Christian? Yes? No? I worship the same God that you do? Would I quote the Qur'an and say, Let there be no compulsion in religion? Not only do I not know the answer; I'm not sure what I think the "right" answer is. Would saying Yes be heroic, or just dumb?
Logically, thought, I know that it would be silly for fear of terrorism to keep me from going to Qatar. The truth is that I'm probably safer there than here -- Khobar's murder rate (22/195,000) is still lower than Pittsburgh's (16.1/100,000). (Of course, there may be some other murders there this year, but since the entire country of Saudi Arabia has only 105 murders a year it could hardly be more than one or two.)
I guess it's like comparing plane crashes with car crashes: I'm always more nervous at lift-off than I am taking the car out of the garage, but lifetime odds of dying in a car wreck are 19 times higher than dying in a plane wreck. I am going to be safer in Qatar than I am in Pittsburgh, even if it doesn't feel that way.
I am hesitating to post this, because it seems pretty callous. Twenty-two people are dead, horribly and wastefully dead, and here I am calculating statistics and thinking what it means for ME. But I'm trying to record all my experiences related to moving to Qatar here, and this is definitely the thought process I've been carrying around since this weekend.
