theDrahos

The role of Saudi Arabia in promoting and financing terrorism is continuing to seep out in the major news media. A few examples:

• On CNN’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday, there was discussion of the role of Saudi funding of the Wahhabi groups that produce jihadists, and of both Saudi Arabia’s and Pakistan’s repressive practices. Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said the Obama Administration should be telling the Saudis and Pakistanis that this funding of terrorists has to stop, or else there will be some ramifications. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) agreed, saying:

• The Globe & Mail of Canada runs a piece by its national affairs columnist Jeffrey Simpson, entitled, “Cozying Up to Saudi Arabia: How Can That be Principled?” in which Simpson blasts the Harper government for its arms deals and political ties to Saudi Arabia —

Simpson says that Saudi Arabia, more than any other country, “has been responsible for financing schools and teaching that promote the Saudis’ Wahhabi version of Islam, which in turn has provided a fertile breeding ground for extremism and terrorism.”

•The issue of Saudi funding of terrorism was also discussed on BBC’s “Hardtalk” program on Jan. 16, in an interview with former MI-6 counter-terrorism official Richard Barrett. Barrett pointed out that we can never kill all the terrorists, nor solve the problem with more surveillance laws. When asked about the large amounts of funds and weapons being provided to terrorists from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, he said that in his years of investigating Al Qaeda, he had never found evidence of a state directly supporting terrorism, but there are certainly individuals within Saudi Arabia etc. who are supporting terrorists, and he said that Western governments should lean heavily on states like Saudi Arabia to get them to crack down on terrorist financing.