Terror financing runs wild in Saudi Arabia

(Compiler's note: A must read article)

Kingdom cracks down on violence at home, ignores help flowing to outside groups

Saudi Arabia is cracking down on extremist violence within its borders, but virtually ignoring terror recruitment and financing drives that are suspected of enabling violence around the rest of the world, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The revelation comes as Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz complained that Saudi mosques were being used to recruit operatives for al-Qaida networks. But he has yet to curb either terrorist recruitment in Saudi Arabia or diminish Saudi assistance to terrorists outside the country.

Saudi officials acknowledge that devout Saudis who attend some of the nation's mosques are being targeted by Islamists for a range of operations. Nayef has fretted that Islamic clerics have failed to block the influence of al-Qaida in the mosques which he says serve as places of indoctrination and recruitment of what he describes as an extremist ideology.

"Intellectual security is by no means less important than public security," Nayef said.

In a recent seminar on intellectual security, Nayef was critical of the imams inside Saudi Arabia.

"Frankly speaking, I would like to say that the imams of mosques, with the exception of the two holy mosques, have not played their desired role," he said. "The more than 15,000 mosques in the country constitute the best forums for guidance, but the imams have failed miserably in discharging their duties."

He also urged Saudi universities to play more of a role in curbing Islamic extremism.

"Since universities are centers of research, it is their duty to study ways to root out ideas that distort religion and defame the nation," he added. "Universities should be capable of contributing to the service of the country and it is in line with the teaching of Islam, which urges its followers to benefit from fruits of learning."

Nayef went on to say that the Interior Ministry has made considerable strides in the war against al-Qaida in 2008 with the arrests of more than 700 suspected operatives and the foiling of a number of potentially mass-casualty strikes.

"We have proved to the world that the Saudi security forces are capable of confronting the challenges of the deviant ideology though the country was the main target of extremist plots," Nayef said.

But security experts point to a distinction between Saudi support to fight terrorism inside Saudi Arabia and outside the country.

Those security experts say while Nayef has been in the forefront in cracking down on terrorism within the kingdom, the Saudi leadership continues to work with charities whose funds are skimmed off for terrorist activities internationally.

This recently has been the case in Lebanon, where WND was told by sources that Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, chief of the Saudi National Security Council, is helping to finance Sunnis whose militias are instigating fighting against the Shiite Alawite minority in northern Lebanon.