[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Ranking Government official in Saudi Arabia at Heart of Eavesdropping Case

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Ranking Government official in Saudi Arabia at Heart of Eavesdropping Case
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1188319487.shtml


   Via [1]Fox News:

     Soliman al-Buthi is a prominent religious leader in Saudi Arabia, a
     father of three and a ranking government official. He's also a
     terrorist, according to the United States and United Nations.

     His lawyers argue that much of the evidence against al-Buthi was
     misinterpreted by National Security Agency officials who
     eavesdropped on conversations between al-Buthi and his American
     attorneys. Those intercepted communications are at the heart of a
     constitutional challenge to the Bush administration's warrantless
     wiretapping program, which was to be heard Wednesday by a federal
     appeals court in San Francisco...

     ..."I am a very respected person in Riyadh," al-Buthi said in a
     recent telephone interview with The Associated Press, referring to
     Saudi Arabia's most populous city and his hometown...

     ...Al-Buthi was not expected to attend the hearing at the 9th U.S.
     Circuit Court of Appeals because he remains a fugitive in this
     country. He's also listed on an Interpol "no fly" list and is
     subject to arrest and deportation to the United States if he steps
     outside Saudi Arabia, which does not extradite its citizens.

   Our Saudi allies don't extradite respected Saudi citizens who are
   accused of plotting to kill people like you and me, because they're
   just doing their job. And our government is OK with that, because
   these respected Saudi government officials are our 'allies'.

   More on the Al Haramain evesdropping case [2]here, covered skillfully
   and extensively by Zombie:

     Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation -- based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
     and with branches around the world -- purports to be an innocuous
     charity which collects funds to help Muslims in poor countries. But
     this façade is a cover for its real purpose: to spread extremist
     Wahhabi doctrine internationally, to provide funding for Al Qaeda,
     and to finance specific terror plots.

     The United Nations, The United States, Great Britain as well as
     several other countries have all designated Al-Haramain as a
     terrorist entity; frozen and seized its funds where possible; and
     banned it from conducting business. Even so, Al-Haramain continues
     to operate in third-world countries and almost certainly continues
     to fund and promote radical Islamic extremism to this day.

   Al-Haramain continues to fund and promote radical Islamic extremism to
   this day because the government in the Saudi government encourages it
   to do so.

   From the [3]Counterterrorism blog and Arab News:

     Whats Really Happening to Saudi Charities?

     Reviewing some past research, I re-discovered a very reveiling
     recent news account published by Arab News regarding Saudi actions
     against charities. This article deserves special attention! Arab
     News, which is published simultaneously in Jeddah, Riyadh and
     Dhahran, is one of the Middle East's leading English language
     newspapers. The story was published January 1, 2005 and was
     entitled "KINGDOM HAS NO PLANS TO CLOSE CHARITIES." According to
     the account, Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Saleh ibn Abdul
     Aziz Al-Sheikh, told an audience in Jeddah that al Haramain was
     closed under US pressure and not because the Saudi government had
     any "suspicions surrounding its activities." It was closed, he said
     "to serve the general interest." The ministry, he said, was not
     aware of any misconduct from the Saudi charity and had not received
     any documented information to this effect from any side. He
     re-assured the audience that the Saudi government had no plans to
     act against any further charities, or to take any additional action
     against al Haramain employees. They would be free, he said, to find
     employment in other charities. In the meantime, al Haramain
     international operations and assets, he said, would be folded into
     a new body named the Saudi National Commission for Charitable Works
     Abroad. The full text of the article is included below:

     Kingdom Has No Plans to Close Down Charities Abdul Wahab Bashir,
     Arab News

     JEDDAH, 1 January 2005 â Saudi Arabia has no plans to shut down any
     local charities, after Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation which had its
     offices closed down earlier in the year, a government minister has
     said.

     The foundation has been accused by the United States of funding
     terrorism among several charity bodies in various parts of the
     world.

     Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawa and Guidance, Saleh
     ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, said there are no plans for the closure
     of any charity and that no imams (prayer leaders) have been sacked
     this year for having ties with terror cells or helping
     terrorists...

     ...Al-Haramain figured among a number of Saudi charities accused by
     Washington of financing terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
     The foundation and other private groups that have been dissolved
     and their international operations and assets folded into a new
     body has been named the Saudi National Commission for Charitable
     Work Abroad.

     The minister said the commission would be very active in charity
     outside the Kingdom. It would be subject to strict financial legal
     oversight, and will operate according to clear policies to ensure
     that charitable funds intended to help the needy are not misused.

     Al-Haramain was said to have received between $45 and $50 million
     each year in donations and has spent some $300 million on
     humanitarian work overseas.

     Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Ali Al-Namla said the foundation
     ex-employees could still work with local charity bodies in the
     Kingdom, denying reports of a ban on the employees to seek work
     with other charity societies....

   One commenter on [4]LGF wondered "how many years it is going to take
   for someone in DC to wake up and realize Saudi Arabia is at war with
   us."

   Another commenter responded: Just after they've milked the last dollar
   from the markets.

References

   1. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug15/0,4670,DomesticSpying,00.html
   2. http://www.zombietime.com/al-haramain_surveillance/
   3. http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/03/whats_really_ha.html
   4. http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26836_Zombie-_The_Al-Haramain_Surveillance_Hearing_v2.0&only