Free Republic

The Associated Press reported this week that a Saudi cleric, Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, funneled money to an Egyptian, Rabei Osman Ahmed, who is said to be the mastermind of the Madrid train bombings last March. Al-Awdah's name has been repeatedly linked to al-Qaeda and bin Laden, yet since 9-11, he has tempered his rhetoric. The disparity between his public and his covert activity can be explained by a secret agreement between the Saudi regime and al-Adwah's Movement for Islamic Resurgence.Osman Ahmed's Milan apartment was reportedly wiretapped by Italian anti-terrorism police. In one taped conversation he is reported to say that...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi security forces clashed with five wanted militants at a suspected hideout north of Riyadh on Thursday, killing four and wounding the fifth, a security official said. A security agent was also killed and two others were wounded in the shootout at a house outside the town of Buraida, the official said on condition of anonymity. Buraida is one of the kingdom's fundamentalist strongholds. The official said the men were "misguided individuals," a euphemism Saudi officials use to refer to Islamic militants. He said weapons and ammunition were found at the scene. It was not immediately...