CIA: Saudis still sending tens of millions to Al Qaida

The CIA has traced transfers of tens of millions of dollars from the Saudis to Al Qaida over the last year, U.S. officials and congressional sources said.

The key backers of Al Qaida are said to be 12 prominent Saudi businessmen — all of whom have extensive business and personal connections with the royal family. These include ties to such ministers as Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz and Riyad Governor Prince Salman.

In July, the Rand Corporation delivered a briefing to the Defense Policy Board which warned that the Saudi royal family has grown dependent on Islamic insurgency groups linked to Al Qaida. The Saudis spend billions of dollars in supporting anti-Western religious activities throughout the world, Middle East Newsline reported.

The CIA has tracked the flow of the funds of the 12 businessmen and have urged U.S. allies in Africa, Asia and Europe to freeze the assets of the Saudis. So far, no action is said to have been taken.

On Tuesday, officials said the National Security Council has discussed a plan to pressure Saudi Arabia into ending the flow of funds to Al Qaida. They said one proposal, which has not yet been approved, calls for a U.S. ultimatum that would give the kingdom 90 days to crack down on Al Qaida or face unilateral U.S. action. Officials would not elaborate what this action would involve.

"The facts are not in dispute," a congressional source familiar with the CIA investigation said. "The CIA has briefed key congressional committees on the Saudi violation of its promises to stop funding to Al Qaida. The argument between the administration and Congress concerns what do we do now."

The United States relayed the names of the businessmen to Riyad in February. But officials and congressional sources said the kingdom took no action against them.

ABC News identified one of the businessman as Yassin Al Kadi. He was described as a multi-millionaire involved in banking, chemicals, diamonds and real estate.

"I fear that many people in the royal family or people close to the royal family have been aiding and abetting terrorists, wittingly or unwittingly," Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican and a leading member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, said.

"The president believes that Saudi Arabia has been a good partner in the war against terrorism," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who confirmed the council's discussions, said. "But even a good partner like Saudi Arabia can do more in the war against terrorism. And that involves the financial front, diplomatic front."

Earlier, Treasury Undersecretary Jimmy Gurule told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Saudi Arabia has agreed to establish an oversight committee on Islamic charities. But Gurule acknowledged that the United States will not have any influence on this panel.

A report by the New York-based Council of Foreign Relations said Al Qaida's global fundraising network leans heavily on Saudi Arabia. The report said Al Qaida's network is built upon a foundation of charities, nongovernmental organizations, mosques, web sites, intermediaries, facilitators and banks and other financial institutions. Some donors are aware that their money will fund Al Qaida attacks, the report said.

Others donate money to legitimate humanitarian efforts, but the money is nonetheless diverted to Al Qaida.

"For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of funds for Al Qaida," the report said. "And for years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem."

Al Qaida channels funds through banks, Islamic banks and money changers, the report said. The movement also employs trade in gold and other other commodities to move and store value.

The organization, which began in the late 1980s, was established by Osama Bin Laden through the use of Saudi funds funneled to Islamic insurgents fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Al Qaida's financial network was maintained when the organization moved from Saudi Arabia to Sudan, and then Afghanistan.

"Al Qaida differs from traditional, state-sponsored terrorist groups in one critical way: it is financially robust," the report said. "Having developed multiple sources of support, it is free from the control of any government and able on its own to maintain its organizational infrastructure, communications systems, training programs, and operations. As such, it historically has been able to operate from failed or dysfunctional states."

They are the unaborted but not loved children of those drugged out morons who burned our flags in the streets in the 1960's/70's.

Then, they went to public school and were brain washed and offered up as fresh meat for the Gay Predators pretending to be teachers. Of course these phoney teachers probably burnt our flags on our streets or wished that they did during the 1960's/70's.

In College, they have been brainwashed by professors who burned our flags in the streets in the 1960/70's. These professors have one dimension, "Hate America and blame everything on Americans!"

So now they mouth the same old mantras and just substitute President Bush instead of LBJ or Nixon and Iraq/Iran for Nam.

They and their drugged out parents, teachers and professors got by with this bravo sierra because there was no internet and conservative views counter balance their insanity posing as logic.

All of this anti America behavior became dangerous after 9/11 to most Americans. These anti Americans are so arrogant, they still think that hate America is cool and the good thing to have mantras about! Wrong!

Once Iraqi oil is available, Saudi crude could become a decidedly lower priority issue.

Yep. The Saudis have managed to worm themselves between a rock and a hard place. Iraq pumping 100% will only hurt them.

I posted an article earlier today (nobody read it- it was an oil thread)

Oil Production: West Africa May Overtake Saudi Arabia.

The gist of it was- the Saudis currently pump 8 million barrels per day. Western Africa pumps 3.7 million. But West African production is expected to increase to 10 million barrels per day in the next five years- supplanting Saudi Arabia (according to the article at any rate). In five years Russia will be tightening the screws ever tighter on the Saudis as well (they're already starting to). The future doesn't look good for the House of Saud at all and a liberated Iraq will be a major nail in their coffin. They'll get what's coming to 'em sooner or later.

"The Texan oil cabal, which the Bushs are a part of, will never betray their friends. They will sell out America because they don't give a shit about America. All they care about is international, borderless power and keeping the money they make in off-shore tax shelters. Meanwhile me and you are supporting their private military who will go to War for their interests."

Of course, it is all about oil and our long-term best interest, but the long-term best interest of our country and the world's too, not for any of your above sited ridiculous reasons! As a nation, unfortunately, reality is we must import over 60% of our oil, the majority of it, from the most volatile region in the world!

The Bush administration’s public posture moralizes the great majority of Muslims in the world as peace loving and non-violent, but to believe that Bush lives in a vacuum, as many people do, is just plain stupid! The Bush administration is all too aware of the threat the world is facing from Islam. Witness his War On Terror! The alternative public postures that many mandate would be utterly stupid and wantonly destructive.

There is a strategy, a long-term strategy to all this madness! That strategy is Bush’s so-called War On Terror. Take a closer look at the region. We have no democracies, only totalitarian regimes that deny their citizens even the most basic of fundamental human rights, most of them founded on strict Islamic principles. None of these Muslim totalitarian regimes allow freedom of religion, most export their terror and hate, and all subjugate their women. Most, like Saudi Arabia, impose the strictest interpretations of the Sharia (Muslim religious law), inflicting this violent form of law on their people. Islam is the curse of the region.

Bush’s War On Terror has an ultimate goal of creating stability in the region, and it is only through the creation of stability that his War On Terror can succeed. His strategy is a simple one: To ensure the establishment of democracy with democratic principles through out the region, by force if necessary, but better through diplomacy for humane expediency. Nothing less than complete democratization of the region can bring about the complete and utter destruction of Islam and the viral terrorist it breeds. Nothing less than radical hardcore democracy, attacking Islam and all the evil it spawns at its very core, will bring about its ultimate destruction in the end, and restore the much needed stability back to the region.

If this is true, why are these men not featured on wanted posters

For nearly 35 years the Saudi's have had us over a barrel... an oil barrel. We needed their oil. We have to have oil and they had the supply. OPEC had us over a barrel.

Now Russia is a friend and is producing more oil than Saudi. If we take over Iraq they have more oil than Saudi too. But it has not been drilled. Once we have the Iraqi oil we do not need the house of Saud and their oil. With out oil our nation is a paper tiger. We have to have oil or our economy colapses.

We are finally at long last getting to the point where the Saudis don't have a gun to our head. We have to take Iraq. Then Iran will fall. All the terrorists will likely flee to Saudi. We can take them down and be pretty safe. There will be a huge glut of oil. That is very good for our economy. We have already said that Iraq will have to pay us the cost of taking Saddam down in oil, so things are looking up.

The whole strategy from day one has been divide and conquer. It would be foolish to unite all Muslims against us so we would have to fight them all at once. Having to do an amphibious landing into Iraq would cost 50 or 100 thousand american lives. Having to go after Afghanistan with out Pakistan would have cost lots of American lives too.So we have chosen to take them down one at a time. Some of the Arab nations have decided to get on our side. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait. They are sucking up to us. And none of them have the power or the money to hurt us. Iraq, Iran and Saudi do. We will take them down... One at at time with the least loss of American lives we can manage.

Saudi Govt. Agent Assisted 9-11 Hijackers

For me, the big story about this Princess business isn't her money ending up third hand with 9-11 terrorist, it's the 9-11 terrorists' San Diego advance man, Omar al-Bayoumi.

According to The Washington Times and Newsweek, and some more stuff on an earlier thread, this guy was almost certainly a Saudi government agent. When British authorities searched his apartment, they found phone records of calls to the Saudi Washington Embassy (under the floorboards? - Newsweek implies). Before moving to England, Al-Bayoumi had met two of the 9-11 terrorists at LAX airport, found them housing, paid their initial rent and helped them get IDs and flying lessons.

Reasonable Conclusion: Through Al-Bayoumi, the 9-11 attacks were coordinated or facilitated, at least in part, directly out of the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC.

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