Posted on 05/22/2002 5:18:27 AM PDT by Clive
With daily warnings now that America and - let's not kid ourselves - North America, could soon be the target of another major terrorist attack, we're left with one fundamental question.
Not why George Bush didn't predict the Sept. 11 attacks in advance - since all the evidence to date suggests there's no way he could have.
But rather, why is Saudi Arabia still considered our ally in the war against terrorism?
As a growing number of voices on all sides of the political spectrum have been pointing out in the wake of Sept. 11, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. So was (is) Osama bin Laden.
While these terrorists ostensibly opposed the Saudi regime - a brutal monarchy/dictatorship - the fact remains the ruling House of Saud supports fundamentalist Wahhabi schools all over the world, which preach hatred against the West. And many oil-rich Saudis have been accused of funding terrorism - as long as the terrorists operate outside of Saudi Arabia.
Recently, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, chief imam of Italy's Muslim community, told the Sun's John Downing that for the U.S. and its allies to have attacked Afghanistan post-Sept. 11 instead of Saudi Arabia, made about as much sense as the U.S., after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, attacking a country other than Japan.
"The Americans attacked the soldiers of terror, but not the generals of terror," Palazzi said.
Michael Moore, the American left-wing political gadfly, recently made the same point to the Globe's Jan Wong while on tour promoting his latest book Stupid White Men, noting, "15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia - and we bomb Afghanistan? What did we do? Miss?"
While the fact remains that when the terrorists struck, it was the Taliban of Afghanistan who were providing safe haven to bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, these questions raise the valid issue of why the U.S. continues to insist Saudi Arabia qualifies as: 1) a "moderate" Arab state; and 2) "our friend," even though its true commitment to the war on terrorism has always been suspect. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with the fact Saudi Arabia is the world's largest exporter of oil. Could it?
Oh no it doesn't !!
He was always wide awake on this issue.
This man is a shining example of courage, truth, and peaceful Islam. He is, as far as I know, the only Muslim cleric to speak out publicly against terrorism and to reach out to Jews and Christians in friendship
Any editorial that uses Michael Moore to support their point has no credibility with me.
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