Terrorist rampage jolts oil workers; Westerners consider leaving S. Arabia

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia -- As Saudi officials sorted through the whys and hows of a terrorist rampage that targeted foreign workers, thousands of Western oil company technicians, executives and their families Sunday were making often agonizing decisions about whether to leave the country.

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The U.S. government has told Americans to leave. But the statement is being taken by many expatriates as a warning rather than an order. Some U.S. companies have ordered their workers' families to return home. And some families are making the decision on their own -- balancing financial realities and job opportunities elsewhere against concerns for their personal safety.

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"I've never been more scared in my life," said Kathy, 50, the wife of an American construction company executive, who plans to leave Saudi Arabia permanently within a few days.

Like most other deeply anxious expatriates, she agreed to speak only on the condition that she not be otherwise identified. Many foreigners here said they now fear that even the slightest notice could make them a terrorist's target. Her hands shaking as she explained her reasons for ending a six-year stay here, Kathy told how a life that used to include unescorted shopping trips and luncheon dates in town had become increasingly defined by confinement to her well-guarded compound.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/2600672

I hope anyone stupid or greedy enough to be there stays there. We don't need any more greedy idiots here in the USA than we have already.

Don