Saudis Blame U.S. for Rise of Terror at Home While Exporting Terror Abroad

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These attitudes should be no surprise. The state-controlled Saudi media runs endless lies and anti-western hate programming 24 hours a day. As clearly pointed out below, Saudi Arabia has been exporting Wahhabi terrorism to Afghanistan and all over the world.

Saudis fight al-Qaida at home, fund abroad

Riyadh's orders: Keep Islamic holy war outside desert kingdom

While Saudi Arabia fights for its life against al-Qaida, the kingdom still supports the Islamic terrorist organization's campaign in the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.

The anomaly points to Saudi Arabia's position on terrorism: The Saudis cry terrorism only when they are the victims, Geostrategy says.

Western and Russian intelligence sources agree that amid the height of the kingdom's campaign against al-Qaida, Saudi princes and prominent businessmen continued to funnel millions of dollars to Islamic insurgents to attack civilian targets in Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Russia.

They point to the Saudi sponsorship of the large Saudi contingent of al-Qaida-aligned terrorists in Chechnya.

The latest example was Abu Walid, regarded as the commander of the Arab forces in Chechnya. Actually, the sources said, Abu Walid didn't fight Russian troops. His claim to fame was bombing Russian civilian targets, such as the attack in the Moscow subway that killed about 40 people in February 2004.

The intelligence sources, in an assessment confirmed by Saudi analysts, assert that Abu Walid and al-Qaida are one and the same. The only difference is that Abu Walid and his gang in Chechnya knew how to follow Riyadh's orders to keep Islamic holy war outside the Saudi kingdom, while a wing of al-Qaida has targeted the Saudi royal family.

For years, Russia has complained that Saudi princes have been funneling tens of millions of dollars to fuel the insurgency in Chechnya. When Chechens weren't willing to fight, Saudi Arabia allowed hundreds of its nationals to fight in the breakaway Russian republic with many of them participating in suicide attacks.

Indeed, the Saudis, or Wahabis as termed by Moscow, were said to be the largest component in the Arab combat units in Chechnya.

In a videotape broadcast on Al Jazeera last month, Abu Walid threatened to launch a wave of attacks in Russia. Abu Walid reportedly directed many of the attacks in Russia, particularly the 1999 apartment bombings throughout the country. Abu Walid died in a clash with Russian security forces in Chechnya earlier this month.

For Saudi Arabia, Chechnya constitutes one of the last bastions of support for the kingdom's pro-al-Qaida policy. U.S. pressure even has blocked Saudi funding of Hamas, a leading client of the kingdom. But the United States has not pressed Riyadh to stop funding for terrorists in Chechnya.

Why do the Saudis support al-Qaida these days? Western intelligence sources said Chechnya remains a safe outlet to export thousands of Saudi seminary students who have little prospect of decent jobs and are ill trained to actually work as clerics outside the kingdom. But the students are full of Islamic zeal and are all set for jihad.

That's where Chechnya comes in -- to serve as a release of pressure against the kingdom. Moreover, Saudi-funded al-Qaida fighters in Chechnya can also be recruited to oppose Islamic dissidents who attack the kingdom on religious grounds.

During the al-Qaida attacks in the kingdom, leading Saudi fighters in Chechnya issued statements denouncing attacks in Saudi Arabia. One such recording was by Abu Omar Al Seif. In a message posted on the Chechen website www.qoqaz.com, Al Seif, born Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Seif, urges al-Qaida-aligned terrorists to abandon attacks against the Saudi royal family and instead fight the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

"They want to impose the blasphemous democracy in the region, steal and loot the Iraqi oil, and control the entire region," Abu Omar said. "The holy warriors in the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Turkey, and from other areas [must] join the holy war against the conspirator alliance: Christian-Jews with apostates."

Abu Omar's argument fits perfectly into Saudi strategy. The United States is dangerous because it is trying to turn Iraq into becoming a democracy.

Abu Omar hopes his words will result in lots of Saudi petro-dollars.

"Abu Omar's admonishment may be a result of some strategic thinking on the part of the radical leader," stated a report by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation. "Clashes with the Saudi government may only serve to make the situation for radicals around the world more difficult.

Following Sept. 11, 2001, the Saudi government has tightened its grip on the activities of Islamic NGOs, private businessmen and other committees, which channel funds to Salafi-Jihadists in Chechnya and elsewhere." Editor's note: WorldNetDaily brings readers exclusive, up-to-the-minute global intelligence news and analysis from Geostrategy-Direct, a new online newsletter edited by veteran journalist Robert Morton and featuring the "Backgrounder" column compiled by Bill Gertz. Geostrategy-Direct is a subscription-based service produced by the publishers of WorldTribune.com, a free news service frequently linked by the editors of WorldNetDaily.

The New York Times is a typical "blame America" Liberal newspaper but does touch on the Saudi export of terrorism.

Saudis Blame U.S. and Its Role in Iraq for Rise of Terror

By JOEL BRINKLEY

Published: October 14, 2004

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 13 - Seventeen months into a shadowy terror campaign that has killed more than 100 people, numerous Saudis express less anger at the insurgents than at the United States for its invasion of Iraq, the signal event that they say touched off the attacks inside the kingdom.

In interviews over the last week, the Saudis condemned the terror attacks, aimed primarily at foreigners, but called them a small inconvenience that has not forced them to make significant changes in their daily lives. By contrast, they expressed unremitting disdain for the United States.

Many Saudis appear to have reached a form of intellectual accommodation with those carrying out the violence. When asked about the attackers' goals, they assigned varied motives but often one that is consistent with their personal, social or political concerns.

The interviews were with nearly two dozen Saudis, from a bejeweled prince of the royal court, sipping coffee at a cafe, to a truck driver wearing a frayed caftan, clutching a bag of onions at a local supermarket.

"The attackers want the government to give more money to the people," said the truck driver, Jaber al-Malky, 24. But Prince Mubarak al-Shafi said, "This certain sect of people is unhappy about alien ideas, particularly about the democracy that the United States wants from nations all over the world, especially Saudi Arabia."

Behind all this lies an ever more complex Saudi-American relationship. Its foundation, of course, is the shared need to buy and sell oil. But the fact that 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudi has become an issue in the presidential campaign, as has the accusation that the Bushes are too close to the royal family.

No one here seems to care about any of that. Instead Saudis unceasingly complain about American support for Israel and the war in Iraq, which they call unjustified, though Saudi Arabia allowed American troops to operate here during the war. Government officials also say they deplore the Bush administration's call for more democracy here. "It's none of their business," one of them said with scorn.

Saudi Arabia's leaders offer conflicting opinions on the local terrorists' motives. Within hours of each other on Sunday, the Saudi interior minister and a half brother of King Fahd offered polar analyses.

"Unemployment creates one of the cornerstones of terrorism, and the poor who cannot get food on their table resort to other means," the king's half brother, Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz, said at a conference in Amman, Jordan. In Kuwait, Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, the interior minister, told reporters he doubted that unemployment was the reason for the attacks here, according to an account in the Arab News daily. The prince, Arab News added, noted that many arrested suspects were well-paid employees.

Saudi Arabia has a long history with terrorism, beginning when Islamic militants seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979. After that, the attacks came years apart and never became a consistent part of the fabric of life here, until May 13, 2003, when 25 people died in three coordinated suicide attacks on residential compounds here. That started a terror campaign that continues. That first attack and many that followed were attributed to Al Qaeda.

Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said the Iraq war had spawned the attacks and added that most Saudis held that view.

Many of the attackers came back to Saudi Arabia after fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, he said, drawing on interviews with arrested terrorists. "They were angry that their dream," a fundamentalist Islamic state, "had been killed by America," General al-Turki said. "They wanted to spread their war against the United States and found that doing this was easier in their own country. But it wasn't until the invasion of Iraq that they could convince others in the country to share their goals. For that reason, the invasion was very important to them."

Now, the general added, "I think we are a step ahead of them."

Saker M. al-Mokayyad, a director at the Naif Arab University for Security Services, said, "The situation is stable now." But the attacks continue, at least on a smaller scale. On Sept. 26, a French engineer, Laurent Barbot, was shot dead on the street in Jidda. Ten days earlier a British resident, Edward Muirhead-Smith, was fatally shot in Riyadh. A Saudi wing of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Even with the continuing casualties, representatives of American communities say they have adjusted to the new reality of living here. Foreign complexes now lie behind heavy barricades, and residents try to avoid walking in public places. Most foreign workers have sent their families back home. Foreigners warily do their shopping and errands early in the day "because mornings are safer," said Gene W. Heck, head of the American Businessmen's Group in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, "business is going on anyway," said David Cantrell, an American business leader in Dhahran.

Saudis say that they do not like the continuing violence, but that it has changed their lives very little.

"The situation is not normal, but nothing is different now for me," said Ayman al-Ghamdi, 27, the manager of a marble business. Capt. Awab al-Hamiai of the National Guard said simply: "Our lives have not changed at all."

The Saudis interviewed were in complete agreement in their views of the United States and the role the Iraq war played in spawning the insurgency.

The first attacks in May 2003 came just as the major combat was ending in Iraq, "and that is when it really hit home here, with all the images of collateral damage," said Khaled al-Maeena, editor in chief of Arab News. "How could America be so oblivious to our feelings?"

Saudis certainly had no love for Saddam Hussein, but "why couldn't they topple Saddam and install a new government without destroying the country?" Prince Mubarak asked.

The Saudis said they see the attacks here as revenge against foreigners and against the Saudi government for failing to stop the Iraq war.

"The war in Iraq was absolutely not justified," said Saad al-Qahtni, 34, a businessman.

That led to attacks here because the Saudi government "did not prevent America from invading Iraq without justification," said Fareed Saad al-Asmari, a banker.

Those were common refrains. The attackers have seldom explained themselves. But when insurgents beheaded an American engineer, Paul M. Johnson Jr., in June, they said it was in revenge for "what thousands of Muslims taste every day because of the fire from the American Apache" helicopter.

Saudis have long held animosity toward the United States for its support of Israel. That and the invasion of Iraq "makes most people here hate the United States," said Captain al-Hamiai.

And at the same time, for decades it has been a rite of passage for wealthy Saudis to send their children to the United States for college.

"We are grateful to the United States; most of us were educated there," said Prince al-Shafi. He and others said Saudis are picking other countries for their children now because of their anger, and because of the immigration obstacles they believe they and other Arabs face traveling to the United States since 9/11.

As a result, foreigners living here say they the country is turning ever more inward.

"This was always an introspective society, but now I think it is turning xenophobic," said Mr. Heck, who has lived here for 34 years. "And I think the government likes that."

Still, despite the new attitudes, strong Western influences remain ingrained.

Mr. Qahtni, the businessman, railed about "the alien influences" that he said he believed were damaging Saudi society. He was seated at a Starbucks, sipping a tall cappuccino.

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