DAKAR cancelled !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gixracer · #1 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 03:54 PM

The Dakar rally is cancelled due to terrorism

UPDATE 4-Rallying-Dakar rally cancelled for security reasons | Reuters

Euromilhões Lisboa - Dakar: homepage

Cafe_Racer · #2 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 04:37 PM

Holy crap.

Superhawk69 · #3 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 04:57 PM

Welcome to a nation / world where killing for your god gets you to paradise is actually believed.

What a shame! Not looking to start a political thread.

Area 51 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 06:52 PM

Africa is a mess...and it's only gonna get worse as they get more and more weapons, there is more and more breakdown of the family, and as globalisation continues.

Cafe_Racer · #5 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superhawk69

Welcome to a nation / world where killing for your god gets you to paradise is actually believed.

What a shame! Not looking to start a political thread.

If you're not looking to start a political thread, then don't lead off with overly-simplisitic political statements.

gixracer · #6 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superhawk69

Welcome to a nation / world where killing for your god gets you to paradise is actually believed.

What a shame! Not looking to start a political thread.

what realy sucks that motorcycling has been effected by the political madness of Al Queda

this race is about a test of man and machine and has nothing to do with politics

XFBO · #7 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gixracer

The Dakar rally is cancelled due to terrorism

Huh???? What's this 'terrorism' you speak of? Im just glad it's not a global problem.

I havent followed Dakar for many yrs but what a freaking shame that such an event that has had this long run would need to be cancelled do to some jerked off radicals.

Cafe_Racer · #8 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 09:04 PM

There are threats every year. This year, the French organizers evidently received threats from a group that murdered several French tourists on December 28. Remember a few years back some stages were cancelled due to the organizers' not being able to guarantee the security of the participants.

The media has linked this group to Al Qaeda. There's little information about whether that's a real link or a convenient story line for news producers. The group in question seeks independence of Mauritania and that seems unlikely to be a shared goal of Al Qaeda.

Since the threats came from a group that had acted recently and were directed at the event, the event was cancelled and the terrorist group won.

GAMBLER · #9 (**permalink**) 01-04-2008, 09:10 PM

just as KTooM gets primed to whoop some arse

they pull the plug

roadkill · #10 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 12:33 AM

Well, at least the "terrorists" are grown men who stand erect. That is far more than you can say for the quivering jellyfish who put on the event. If I were a "terrorist", I would be doubled over laughing. The more weaklings cower, the more the strong will be encouraged. Dakar now, next the Olympics then international air travel....this is going to get fun if you are a "terrorist".

I don't mean to be political.....I just can't fathom grown men peeing in their pants when a boogie man jumps out and says "BOO".

manic · #11 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 01:23 AM

Quote:

I don't mean to be political.....I just can't fathom grown men peeing in their pants when a boogie man jumps out and says "BOO".

Wait? Aren't the majority of event organizers French? It starts in Paris right? I can't believe the French would surrender so quickly.

How do you say "BOO" in arabic? إخافة, صوت إستهجان

gixracer · #12 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 03:25 AM

another report
DEBKAfile - DEBKAfile Exclusive: Five al Qaeda suspects detained in Mauritania admit Dakar Rally targeted, as hundreds of disgruntled teams head home

Busy Little Shop · #13 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 05:32 AM

Mercy people... keep racing or the terrorist will win...

Cafe_Racer · #14 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 06:48 AM

Who's making the bumper stickers:

"Race Motorcycles or the Terrorists Win!"

BALLZ · #15 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 01:01 PM

Just pack a 45 and go race. Run into a terrorist, cap his ass and continue on.

duckdawg · #16 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 01:07 PM

kill em all, let God sort em out...

gixracer · #17 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BALLZ

Just pack a 45 and go race. Run into a terrorist, cap his ass and continue on.

i'm with ya

but its the snipers i'd worry about

jaymags · #18 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 03:14 PM

[quote=manic;445157]Wait? Aren't the majority of event organizers French? It starts in Paris right? I can't believe the French would surrender so quickly.

Exactly...+1

XFBO · #19 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gixracer

but its the snipers i'd worry about

Oh come now, not even the best sniper in the world could hit a moving mark going 50+MPH........or can they?

Ahhh think of it this way, not racing should make the 'green' ppl happy.

Smitty · #20 (**permalink**) 01-05-2008, 04:36 PM

A pity this has happened, for I have been following it since the day it started through UK Weekly m/c papers to the use of the TV & such.

Due to weather the people running it had to make immediate changes, to even some matter of where the little piece of land they used before had raised a stink to sometimes a political matter.

Yet by 2000 the writing was on the wall, what with bandits & such stealing vehicles to killind a few of the workers & more if you have followed the dramatic changes to another country for part of the run.

With the problems from the middle east------well anyone could see this comming. Just glad that they did without indangering competitors to workers or whoever else worked on the Paris to Dakar.