Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A Second Look at the Saudis

A reader contacted me by email to say that he too has also been keeping tabs on the Saudis at his site A Second Look At The Saudis. "This was really intended to be a book project, so it takes a slightly different approach than a blog." For background information, it's worth reading.

Islamic State Of Iraq Issues Important Statement To The Mujahideen, Honorable Clan Members

by Ubaidah Al-Saif from Jihad Unspun - translated from Al-Fajr Media

To the Mujahideen working in Baghdad province who made their enemies from the cross worshippers and Shiites especially the Badr corps and Dajjal al-Mahdi army taste death, know that there is a great conspiracy to expel the Sunnis from Baghdad and what you have to do today is to rely upon Allah and strike the Shiites and National Guard concentrations and bases ... They placed their hope in al-Maliki and the cross worshipper’s government and found nothing but disappointment. Oh Mujahedeen, go forward in your Jihad and cling to your pure salafi doctrine, for finishing the project is more important than beginning it.

'Escape is impossible'

by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad from The Guardian

I walk towards the area where the clashes between the Lebanese army and the Islamists took place, a sort of a no-man's land between the edge of the camp and the Lebanese army checkpoints. "Tameer" is the Islamists' turf, where most of the men on the streets have long beards and some wear shalwar kameez and black prayer-caps, the signature dress for the Salafi-jihadi Islamists in the region. The area has also become a safe haven not only for jihadis fresh from Iraq but also for wanted criminals such as arms dealers. "Long live the leader Zarqawi," is written on a wall, referring to the al-Qaida commander in Iraq who was killed last year.

Islamist Forum Debates the Fate of Bin Laden

by Abdul Hameed Bakier from The Jamestown Foundation

In response to an article posted in an Islamist internet forum entitled "Bin Laden...The Puzzling Disappearance," forum users spent a week discussing the possible reasons ... The participants in the forum postings agreed that the disappearance of bin Laden only frustrates al-Qaeda's enemies because Salafi-Jihadi leaders use the media only as needed and do not use it for political propaganda like the Muslim Brotherhood movement and moderate sheikhs in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Furthermore, they insisted that, whether bin Laden is dead or alive, the jihad will persist until doomsday.

Western Sahara: The Cost of the Conflict

from International Crisis Group

The Western Sahara conflict is both one of the world’s oldest and one of its most neglected. More than 30 years after the war began, the displacement of large numbers of people and a ceasefire in 1991 that froze military positions, its end remains remote ... Hundreds of Moroccan troops have been captured and tortured by the Polisario. Most have remained in prison for a long time. Moroccans also have to shoulder an exorbitant financial cost (military budget, investment in the “Southern provinces”, tax breaks and higher salaries for civil servants) that has hampered national development – a situation all the more serious since poverty in the country’s slums is generating momentum for a Salafi Islamist movement.

Islamic “Charities” Named in Lawsuit

by Tom Fitton from The Conservative Voice

As we describe in our special report, the Islamic Society of North America specializes in infiltrating Muslim mosques in the United States and replacing moderate leaders with those who subscribe to Wahhabi theology (extreme Islamism). According to Daniel Pipes, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Islamic terrorism, the Islamic Society of North America also appears to be a key player in the channeling Saudi Wahhabist money into the United States through its affiliation with the North American Islamic Trust, an Islamic financial clearinghouse with terrorist ties.

No place for terror in Malaysia

by Ioannis Gatsiounis from Asia Times

Many of the region's top terror suspects linked to Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network, including Abu Bakar Bashir and Hambali, were stationed in Malaysia before settling elsewhere in the region. No investigations that I know of have been carried out to see what impact they had here on local minds. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian money is helping fund Islamic education in Malaysia, with the puritanical Wahhabi strain of the faith said to have attracted some adherents in the northern state of Perlis.

China Moves Up the Weapons Spending Ladder

by Patrick Goodenough from CNSNews

Another noteworthy development reported by the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) was the $29 billion spent by Saudi Arabia - up from $25bn in 2005 and $13bn in 1996. The Wahhabi-ruled kingdom is now the ninth biggest arms spender in the world, and the biggest in the Middle East. Elsewhere in that region, Israel spent $11.3bn and Iran $9.8bn in 2006.