[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Another *no-shit sherlock* headline I thought I'd never see..

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Another *no-shit sherlock* headline I thought I'd never see..
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1194281291.shtml


   Linked by [1]Charles at LGF, from the Times Online:

     [2]Saudi Arabia is hub of world terror: The desert kingdom supplies
     the cash and the killers

     ...wealthy Saudis remain the chief financiers of worldwide terror
     networks. "If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the
     funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia," said Stuart
     Levey, the US Treasury official in charge of tracking terror
     financing...

     ..An analysis by NBC News suggested that the Saudis make up 55% of
     foreign fighters in Iraq. They are also among the most
     uncompromising and militant.

     Half the foreign fighters held by the US at Camp Cropper near
     Baghdad are Saudis. They are kept in yellow jumpsuits in a
     separate, windowless compound after they attempted to impose sharia
     on the other detainees and preached an extreme form of Wahhabist
     Islam.

     In recent months, Saudi religious scholars have caused
     consternation in Iraq and Iran by issuing fatwas calling for the
     destruction of the great Shiâite shrines in Najaf and Karbala in
     Iraq, some of which have already been bombed. And while prominent
     members of the ruling al-Saud dynasty regularly express their
     abhorrence of terrorism, leading figures within the kingdom who
     advocate extremism are tolerated.

     Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaidan, the chief justice, who oversees terrorist
     trials, was recorded on tape in a mosque in 2004, encouraging young
     men to fight in Iraq. âEntering Iraq has become risky now,â he
     cautioned. âIt requires avoiding those evil satellites and those
     drone aircraft, which own every corner of the skies over Iraq. If
     someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join
     the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God,
     then he is free to do so.â

     The Bush administration is split over how to deal with the Saudi
     threat, with the State Department warning against pressure that
     might lead the royal family to fall and be replaced by more
     dangerous extremists.

     âThe urban legend is that George Bush and Dick Cheney are close to
     the Saudis because of oil and their past ties with them, but
     theyâre pretty disillusioned with them,â said Stephen Schwartz, of
     the Centre for Islamic Pluralism in Washington. "The problem is
     that the Saudis have been part of American policy for so long that
     itâs not easy to work out a solution."

   ..That "urban legend" may be based on the fact that, in [3]Dick
   Cheney's words, we attacked Iraq to protect our Saudi "friends in the
   Middle East." It may also be based on the fact that Sheikh Saleh
   al-Luhaidan was making his infamous tape while Bush was tiptoeing
   through the tulips with King Abdullah in Crawford.

   Cheney and Bush knew all about Saudi doubletalk, yet their response
   was to [4]increase their efforts to kiss Saudi ass. Some urban legend.

   In any case, the most interesting part of this article is not the
   no-shit-sherlock part. It's the information about hw the Saudis are
   working to incite the Shi'ites in Iraq and Iran:

     In recent months, Saudi religious scholars have caused
     consternation in Iraq and Iran by issuing fatwas calling for the
     destruction of the great Shiâite shrines in Najaf and Karbala in
     Iraq, some of which have already been bombed. And while prominent
     members of the ruling al-Saud dynasty regularly express their
     abhorrence of terrorism, leading figures within the kingdom who
     advocate extremism are tolerated.

   After WWI, the British basically gave the Sauds control of Mecca and
   Medina despite the fact that they're hated by the majority of the
   Muslim world.

   They were also hated by any Brits with brains. Of the Wahhabis,
   Winston Churchill said:

     "Austere, intolerant, well-armed, and bloodthirsty, in their own
     regions the Wahabis are a distinct factor which must be taken into
     account, and they have been, and still are, very dangerous to the
     holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and to the whole institution of
     the pilgrimage, in which our Indian fellow-subjects are so deeply
     concerned."

   The British ignored Churchill because the Sauds proved their worth by
   'keeping order' in the Middle East. Basically, Ibn Saud and his ilk
   'kept order' by stirring up trouble, then getting credit for helping
   the Brits put it down.

   They're doing the same thing with us. Our alliance with Saudi Arabia
   isn't a moderating force in the Middle East, it's actually causing
   most of our problems in the region.

   After we invaded Iraq at the urging of our Saudi allies, the same
   Saudi allies sent an army of car bombers into Iraq to destabilize the
   country and to kill American soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

   Saudi Arabia also supports Hamas - while telling us that they're
   essential to the Israeli/Palestinian "peace process"

   Now Iran is getting riled up, and our Saudi allies are telling us that
   they can keep a lid on the growing Shi'ite menace - with our help, of
   course.

   Anyone see the pattern here?

References

   1. http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=27800_Saudi_Arabia-_The_Hub_of_World_Terror&only
   2. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2801017.ece
   3. http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1126550464.shtml
   4. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH08Ak01.html