WHO FUNDS "al qaeda" and/or the "wahabbis"?

WHO?

The Wahabbi sect is the predominant strain of Islam in Saudi Arabia.

Isn't that great :sarcasm:

:mad:

:shrug:

Sources tell CBS the redacted section lays out a money trail between Saudi Arabia and supporters of al Qaeda, reports CBS White House Chief Correspondent John Roberts.

Among others, it singles out Omar al-Bayoumi, who gave financial assistance to 9-11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar.

The FBI charges al-Bayoumi, an official of the Saudi civil aviation authority, never lacked for money and is believed to have received funds from a charitable trust run by the wife of the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. The Saudis, for all their protestations of cooperating in the war on terror, still refuse to allow the FBI access to al-Bayoumi. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/30/world/main565782.shtml


The classified part of a Congressional report on the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, says that two Saudi citizens who had at least indirect links with two hijackers were probably Saudi intelligence agents and may have reported to Saudi government officials, according to people who have seen the report.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E3DB133EF931A3575BC0A9659C8B63

explanation of the situation in that region. I found it really informative.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/saudi/transcript.html#

There is a reason some countries that are the antithesis of everything they supposedly believe are safe. It's because those countries pay through the nose to keep the streets safe.

The people who think that "they hate us for our freedoms" aren't doing a good job of explaining the lack of terrorist acts in countries that have the same freedoms, the same capitalism, etc.

If any terrorist organization that hated capitalism wanted to blow something up that would make front page news everywhere, they'd hit Singapore, or Tokyo, or Shanghai, etc. I am not saying that these particular countries are paying protection fees, but that it would scare the hell out of a lot more people than just a few hundred million Americans.

If one of those cities were hit, global distribution of raw materials and finished goods would cease.

Then you look at Dubai. There is a whole lot of money there. A lot of building. Companies relocating there...

America's only real advantage in the world is quickly becoming its bombing capability.

I keep trying to explain that, but I get the "THEY HATE OUR FREEDOM" baloney.

They still fund Wahhaist Madrasah's as a means of tapping certain negative energies away from their power. It is also a means to control Islam and directing conflict elsewhere. I see it as a much more extreme version of what the Christian Right does in this country.

Saudi Arabia is, in effect, a theocracy, founded on an extremely fundamentalist version of Islam. More information can be read in the Wikipedia article for Wahhabism.

Al-Qaida (Arabic, the foundation) derives its theological basis from Wahhabi doctrine. Bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders have strong ties to the Saudi royal family and Saudi Arabia in general.

they make use of the state religion to control the masses, and for creating an excuse to concentrate their wealth amongst the Royals.

As you said, theocracy and religion is little more than a tool for power and control. Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism are no different than, say, American Dominionists and Christianity.

Especially since Osama Bin Laden used to work for the CIA, if I remember reading it right. Hard not to put 2 and 2 together. Sorry, N/t.

Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm Islamic mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989. The Program relied heavily on using the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as an intermediary for funds distribution. Along with funding from similar programs from Britain's MI6 and SAS, Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China, the ISI armed and trained over 100,000 insurgents between 1978 and 1992. Somewhere between $3–$20 billion in US funds were funneled into the country to train and equip troops with weapons, including Stinger man-portable air-defense systems.

On July 3, 1979, U.S. President Carter signed a presidential finding authorizing funding for anticommunist guerrillas in Afghanistan. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and installation of a more pro-Soviet president, Hafizullah Amin, Carter announced "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War". American funding started with 20-30 million dollars per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million a year in 1987.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone