The article's from the Pak Daily Times. Curiously, I read Borchgrave's piece yesterday (on dead tree, in fact) while I was having lunch. In the space of 24 hours it's traveled around the world...
The Saudi royal family has finally conceded that the root cause of Islamist terrorism has been its own Wahhabi ideology, and the kingdom has prohibited any reference to jihad in radio and television broadcasts, a Washington Times report said on Wednesday.
| Makes for an interesting development, assuming the Soddies are serious about it. I wonder if Pakland will follow suit? Soddy Arabia without jihad is just a place with a lot of oil and playboys, vieled women and scimitars. Pakistan without jihad is just a place with ummm... head lice. |
Following the Al Qaeda suicide bombings of apartment buildings in Riyadh on May 12 that killed 35, Saudi security and intelligence organizations reported what the royal family was loath to hear: Almost 1,000 Saudi clerics are either linked to, or in sympathy with, Al Qaeda. They have been fired or banned from addressing worshippers after Friday prayers, Arnaud de Borchgrave wrote for the Times.
| They're being "reeducated"... |
Acting in the name of King Fahd, who is too ill to rule, Prince Abdullah has issued new regulations prohibiting any reference to jihad in radio and TV broadcasts. âThe royals are also drafting new regulations that the Wahhabi clergy will most probably consider sacrilegious. The new rules would actually remove elements of Wahhabi doctrine â Islamâs strictest interpretation of the Quran â as it is presently taught in mosques and schools around the kingdom,â Borchgrave said.
| And that would be a dramatic change. It would imply the Soddies are abandoning their quest for world domination... |
Security chiefs of the 22 Arab League nations, meeting in Tunis last week, quickly agreed on the existence of a direct link between Al Qaeda terrorist attacks and a clergy that promotes holy war in holy places.
| How'd they ever come to that conclusion? And after not even two years! It's so... so... obvious. |
Mohammed bin Al Kuman, chairman of the Arab Leagueâs council of interior ministers, said the most urgent need was for moderate clerics who can see that Islam has been hijacked by extremists who preach hatred of the United States and Israel in particular, Western values in general.
| It's become such a clichè to say that Islam has been "hijacked." It brings to mind visions of bearded men, rolling their eyes as they take over mosques with bombs in their hands. The actual case is that the Soddies set out on a program of world domination, using money as the means and Islam as the method. Not being a very powerful country physically, they tried to hide it, modeling their approach on that of the Learned Elders of Zion. Once caught at it, they could either fight in the open or pretend it's all a misunderstanding. They can't fight in the open, because they'd get flattened. They could also surrender, but that's a last resort... |
Borchgrave said the Saudi clergy had sent Wahhabi clerics as missionaries all over the world to build mosques and set up madrassas. There are about 2,000 mosques in the United States, most of them started by Wahhabi clerics, he claimed. âIn 1979, scores of Muslim terrorists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca and kept Saudi security forces at bay for two weeks. Non-Muslims are not allowed anywhere near Mecca or Medina, so Saudi authorities deny to this day that French specialists were called in with sophisticated methods to subdue the Wahhabi rebellion. The Wahhabi revolutionaries had sought refuge in the catacombs. The French specialists advised them to flood them and then stick high voltage cables in the water,â wrote Borchgrave. He said the clergy pledged in the following âconcordatâ to refrain from criticizing the extravagant excesses of the royal family. âIn return, the House of Saud gave free rein to the Wahhabis â outside the kingdom.â Following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in February 1989, the Saudi Wahhabis lavished some $300 million a year on building a network of several thousand madrassas across Pakistan. âFrom Pakistani madrassas, young Muslim men from some 30 countries, went on to Afghanistan for training in Al Qaedaâs camps,â the report said. Borchgrave said a small number of these schools had gone along with reform but âthe overwhelming majority of religious teachers have told the authorities to butt outâ. He claimed Saudi Wahhabi money was still outspending US aid to education reform by 10 to 1.
| That's an accurate description of what we've been watching for the past couple years. Qazi, Fazl and Sami dug in their heels as soon as Perv mentioned reforming the madrassah system... |
âSince September 11, Saudi authorities have long dismissed stories about Wahhabi-Al Qaeda connections as anti-Saudi propaganda. Yet leading Saudi businessmen conceded that in a free election in the kingdom, with Osama Bin Laden a candidate for the top political post and the royals sitting it out on the sidelines, the worldâs most wanted terrorist would win hands down. The House of Saud has finally shed its blinkers. Not a moment too soon.â |