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Saudi Arabia has funneled tens of thousands of dollars into the "outreach" programs of Columbia University's Middle East Institute, which until last week was training some of the city's public-school teachers in how to teach students about Middle East politics. Since 2002, the government-owned Saudi Aramco has given the institute annual grants of $15,000 for unspecified outreach activities. The institute's outreach activities have included a 15-week teacher-training course on Middle East politics led by Columbia faculty members and graduate students. In a letter dated April 27, 2004, a scholar of Arab nationalism who took over the Middle East Institute in...

Bangladesh is a remote South Asian country, about the size of Florida, bounded on three sides by India. Since independence in 1971, acquired in a bloody civil war from the politically and militarily dominant western wing of Pakistan, Bangladesh has known only mounting adversities. Geographically the country is an alluvial plain formed by the confluence of two major rivers, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Climatically it is a wash-basin of hurricanes sweeping north from the Bay of Bengal, and regular monsoon flooding from over-flowing rivers. But if it is not watched and adequate preventive measures not taken, Bangladesh could well...

Saudi Hate Ideology Fills US Mosques Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom has completed a year-long study of documents collected from more than a dozen Saudi-funded mosques in the United States—and the study confirms what many of us had long suspected: Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques. (Hat tip: TexasSecurityMom.) Among the key findings of the report: * Various Saudi government publications gathered for this study, most of which are in Arabic, assert that it is a religious obligation for Muslims to hate Christians and Jews and warn against imitating, befriending, or helping them in any way, or...

The idea that Osama bin Laden is an agent of some sinister power is no longer confined to the lunatic fringe; it has been taken up by the Saudi Interior Minister. From the Washington Times, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The Saudi interior minister has said the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is an agent of an enemy of the oil-rich kingdom. Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said, "Bin Laden is the agent of a certain party, no doubt." Nayef did not identify the suspected party, the daily newspaper Okaz reported...

Counterterrorism efforts got a major boost last week when an American district court found three Muslim organizations and one individual, mostly based in the Chicago area, guilty of funding Hamas and fined them an astonishing US$156 million. The four were found liable for their roles in the murder of an American teenager, David Boim, on May 13, 1996, when he was shot by Hamas operatives as he waited for a bus near Jerusalem. This case is important in itself, providing some measure of justice and relief for the Boim family. Beyond that, it helps fight terrorism in four ways.First, it...

I was just watching CBN news and they were saying that one of the largest mosques in North America is under construction in Boston (anyone in Boston aware of this?). The mosque has Wahabi connection and is associated with the Islamic Society of Boston (with Wahabi and terrorist connections). The city of Boston sold the land for 25-50% of its actual value, all without comments from the mayor's office and Boston Globe. What's going on here? We are over in the Middle East bombing Arabs. Something like 70% or more Arabs hate the USA and we're importing radical Islamists right...

Tuesday, November 23, 2004 City gives break to terror-related mosque?Muslim group buys land from government for fraction of value Posted: November 23, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A huge mosque set to be built in Boston is raising eyebrows for two reasons: its link to terror, and the fact the city government sold the land for the project at a fraction of its value. The 60,000-square-foot Islamic Cultural Center will cost $22 million, according to a report by the Christian Broadcasting Network. The Islamic Society of Boston, which is overseeing the project, allegedly has ties to radical Islam, with its founder,...

BOSTON, Massachusetts - A mosque is rising in the heart of Boston. Not just any mosque, but the largest mosque in the northeastern United States. At a cost of $22 million, the 60,000-square-foot Islamic Cultural Center will be a prominent symbol of the growth of Islam in America. But the project is under fire, as some say it will also be a symbol of radical Islam. The Islamic Society of Boston is under scrutiny for ties to radicalism. But the society says it does not tolerate extremism. And yet, some former and present leaders of the society have been tied...

It is time to reject extremist, politicised Islam and the terrorism associated with it. We need a reformation which retains the eternal message of compassion and humility that the Prophet (PBUH) practised in Mecca. I am convinced most Muslims still believe in such a humane Islam. The carnage in a Shia mosque in Sialkot on Friday, October 1, 2004 resulted in the death of 31 human beings who had come to pray to Allah. A bomb blast on October 7 killed 40 people who had come to attend a Sunni gathering in Multan to commemorate the first anniversary of the...

Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily reported October 1 a Global Information System (GIS) report from Sarajevo that the Saudi and Iranian governments are working through Bosnian terrorist groups to support Chechen Islamist terrorist and guerilla operations against the Russian government.A secret Wahabbi terrorist organization, Kvadrat (Quadrant), whose membership practice "Islam from the roots," was founded in Sarajevo in 1995. Kvadrat has expanded dramatically during 2004 in operations and funding by opening a new string of offices and facilities in Bosnia and in the Raska (Sandzak) Muslim area of southern Serbia. A new base for future operations is being built in...

Terrorist PACBy J. Michael WallerInsight Magazine | November 21, 2003 On September 11, 2001, as people around the world opened their hearts and their checkbooks to victims of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, a prominent Muslim activist laid out $3,000 of his own. But he didn't have the victims in mind. He used the occasion to help re-elect one of his favorite federal lawmakers: a feisty left-winger who kept the FBI in her political crosshairs. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, Abdurahman Alamoudi wrote two checks that day totaling $3,000 to the campaign committee of...

GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF Al-Qaida driving U.S. out of Saudi Arabia Amid terror threat, ambassador telling Americans to get out Posted: May 15, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia has been threatened by an al-Qaida operative who has escaped the clutches of the American military for more than two years, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. Despite Saudi government efforts, al-Qaida operatives like Mustafa Abdul Kader Abed Al Ansari are driving the 35,000 Americans and many of the companies they work for out of Saudi Arabia. About 3,000 Americans work in the oil...

WASHINGTON - During the Iraq (news - web sites) war, Saudi Arabia secretly helped the United States far more than has been acknowledged, allowing operations from at least three air bases, permitting special forces to stage attacks from Saudi soil and providing cheap fuel, U.S. and Saudi officials say. The American air campaign against Iraq was essentially managed from inside Saudi borders, where military commanders operated an air command center and launched refueling tankers, F-16 fighter jets, and sophisticated intelligence gathering flights, according to the officials. Much of the assistance has been kept quiet for more than a year by...

<p>TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) - As many as 20 militants seized a large number of hostages Wednesday during a standoff with authorities after a grenade blast in Uzbekistan's capital, police said. A Russian television network said three people were wounded in the latest violence in the Central Asian nation. The Tashkent blast came at the end of a day when police scoured the capital in pursuit of fugitive militants, and reportedly arrested at least 30. A police official said those in custody so far were adherents of the strict Wahhabi Islamic sect, which was believed to have inspired Osama bin Laden, not members of an extremist group President Islam Karimov has implied were behind the attacks.</p>

RIYADH, 21 March 2004 — The head of the Supreme Commission for Tourism yesterday dismissed a US media outcry over a notice on the commission’s website saying Jews are banned from Saudi Arabia. Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary general of the SCT, said advice on the SCT’s website that the Kingdom banned Jews from entering the country was “blown out of all proportions” by US media seeking to portray the Kingdom as anti-Semitic. He also washed his hands of the website saying it was an experimental site launched in Dubai last year and designed by a private company. “The website...

Russians charged with Qatar bomb Mr Yanderbiyev had just returned to his car after attending Friday prayers Two Russian intelligence agents have been charged in Qatar with the murder of Chechen rebel figure Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev, local officials say. The men were detained five days after Mr Yanderbiyev, wanted by Moscow for terror offences, was killed by a car bomb in the Gulf state's capital Doha. Three Russians were initially detained but the third has been since released. Confirming that the detainees are anti-terrorism agents, Russia condemned the arrests as a "hostile move". The insinuation of the Qatar authorities cannot be...

First raids of 2004 not quite Mardi Gras BAQUBAH, Iraq — It wasn’t exactly the place for strings of beads and parade floats, but when they were done, Task Force Ironhorse Soldiers had something to celebrate. In the first Iraqi raids conducted by Coalition forces in the new year, Operation Sugar Bowl took 4th Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team into target areas identified as Bourbon Street, New Orleans and the French Quarter. Lining up their convoys at Camp Scunion just after midnight, the infantrymen, tankers and scouts had just enough time to wish each other a happy New Year...

The following forum was held at the Center for the Study of Popular Culture's annual Restoration Weekend, Nov. 13-16, 2003. David Keene:  My name is Dave Keene, and those of you who know me know that I know very little about the Middle East, almost nothing about Shiites and Sunnis and Wahhabi Muslims.  However, since September 11, like a lot of us, I’ve spent a good bit of my time reading and trying to learn something about this, and, of course, one of the most delicate issues that the current administration has been dealing with is the question of Saudi Arabia. ...

The Nuclear Suitcases Of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden - A Christmas Message From Daleel Almojahid PipeLineNews - Editor's note: As we consider the heightened state of terror awareness, it may be instructive to read a sample of the type of "chatter" that has alarmed the intelligence gathering mechanism of the United States. It comes from an Internet source called Daleel Almohahid which means roughly, Guide or Directive of the Jihad, in Arabic. Internet message boards such as this one have been increasingly cluttered with such ominous warnings. This is a remarkable document. Many of the facts claimed by it are...

Florida Islamic Conference Outed As Jihad-Fest By Beila Rabinowitz & William A. Mayer (Washington) PipeLineNews - Although possibly viewed as heretical – in some quarters - it is really hard to ignore the fact that one of Mohammed’s prime intentions, when creating Islam was to unite the warring Arab tribes and factions into one nation. This statement is not meant to demean the softer, more lofty side of the religion - especially considering that much of it is derived from the Bible – but it is really necessary to grasp this key fact - of Islam’s practicality and historic...