Saudi Arabia and state-sponsored terrorism
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Saudi Arabia is said to be the world's largest source of funds for Salafi jihadist terrorist militant groups, such as al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, and Lashkar-e-Taiba in South Asia, and donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide, according to Hillary Clinton.[1] According to a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state, "Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups."[2]
The violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan is partly bankrolled by wealthy, conservative donors across the Arabian Sea whose governments do little to stop them.[1] Three other Arab countries which are listed as sources of militant money are Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, all neighbors of Saudi Arabia. Taliban and their militant partners the Haqqani network earn "significant funds" through UAE-based businesses. Kuwait is described as a "source of funds and a key transit point" for al-Qaida and other militant groups.[1][3] The Pakistani militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, used a Saudi-based front company to fund its activities in 2005.[1][4]
According to studies, most of suicide bombers in Iraq are Saudis.[5][6][7]
| Nationality | Number |
|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | |
| United Arab Emirates | |
| Egypt | |
| Lebanon |
15 of the 19 hijackers of the four airliners who were responsible for 9/11 originated from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.[8] Osama bin Laden was a Saudi by birth. His family is a wealthy one intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family.
Starting in the mid-1970s the Islamic resurgence was funded by an abundance of money from Saudi Arabian oil exports.[9] The tens of billions of dollars in "petro-Islam" largess obtained from the recently heightened price of oil funded an estimated "90% of the expenses of the entire faith."[10]
Throughout the Sunni Muslim world, religious institutions for people both young and old, from children's maddrassas to high-level scholarships received Saudi funding,[11] "books, scholarships, fellowships, and mosques" (for example, "more than 1500 mosques were built and paid for with money obtained from public Saudi funds over the last 50 years"),[12] along with training in the Kingdom for the preachers and teachers who went on to teach and work at these universities, schools, mosques, etc.[13] The funding was also used to reward journalists and academics who followed the Saudis' strict interpretation of Islam; and satellite campuses were built around Egypt for Al Azhar, the world's oldest and most influential Islamic university.[14]
The interpretation of Islam promoted by this funding was the strict, conservative Saudi-based Wahhabism or Salafism. In its harshest form it preached that Muslims should not only "always oppose" infidels "in every way," but "hate them for their religion ... for Allah's sake," that democracy "is responsible for all the horrible wars of the 20th century," that Shia and other non-Wahhabi Muslims were "infidels", etc.[15] While this effort has by no means converted all, or even most, Muslims to the Wahhabist interpretation of Islam, it has done much to overwhelm more moderate local interpretations, and has set the Saudi-interpretation of Islam as the "gold standard" of religion in Muslims' minds.[16]
By its nature, Wahhabism encourages intolerance and promotes terrorism.[17] Former CIA director James Woolsey described it as "the soil in which Al-Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are flourishing."[18] However, the Saudi government strenuously denies these claims or that it exports religious or cultural extremism.[19]
References
- ^ a b c d Walsh, Declan (December 5, 2010). "WikiLeaks cables portray Saudi Arabia as a cash machine for terrorists". The Guardian.
- ^ "US embassy cables: Hillary Clinton says Saudi Arabia 'a critical source of terrorist funding'". The Guardian. December 5, 2010.
- ^ "US embassy cables: Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network using United Arab Emirates as funding base". The Guardian. December 5, 2010.
- ^ "US embassy cables: Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists raise funds in Saudi Arabia". The Guardian. December 5, 2010.
- ^ a b Bernstein-Wax, Jessica (August 8, 2007). "Studies: Suicide bombers in Iraq are mostly foreigners". McClatchy Newspapers.
- ^ Glasser, Susan B. (May 15, 2005). "'Martyrs' In Iraq Mostly Saudis". Washington Post.
- ^ See also: Hafez, Mohammed M. Suicide Bomber in Iraq. United States Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 1601270046.
- ^ Johnston, David (September 9, 2003). "TWO YEARS LATER: 9/11 TACTICS; Official Says Qaeda Recruited Saudi Hijackers to Strain Ties". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
- ^ Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: on the Trail of Political Islam, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, (2002), pp.69-75
- ^ Dawood al-Shirian, 'What Is Saudi Arabia Going to Do?' Al-Hayat, May 19, 2003
- ^ Abou al Fadl, Khaled, The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists, HarperSanFrancisco, 2005, pp.48-64
- ^ Kepel, Gilles, Jihad: on the Trail of Political Islam, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, (2002), p.72
- ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival, Norton, (2006), p.155
- ^ (Murphy, Caryle, Passion for Islam, (2002) p.32
- ^ Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology
- ^ "An interview with Minister Mentor of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew". Accessmylibrary.com. 2004-09-24. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
- ^ Malbouisson, Cofie D. (2007). Focus on Islamic issues. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-60021-204-8.
- ^ "Fueling Terror". Institute for the Analysis of Global Terror. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
- ^ Malbouisson, Cofie D. (2007). Focus on Islamic issues. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-60021-204-8.