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| Arabia |
| Member of Qatari royal family supports al-Qaeda |
| 2003-02-06 |
| A section from the Times report on Powells presentation to the UN that caught my eye Mr. Powell withheld some critical details today, like the discovery by the intelligence agencies that a member of the royal family in Qatar, an important ally providing air bases and a command headquarters for the American military, operated a safe house for Abu Mussab al Zarqawi when he transited the country going in and out of Afghanistan. If you look at a map, there are a few other countries that Zarqawi would have had to gone through or over to get from Afghanistan to Qater, the only question is did he go through Iran, or via Pakistan? The Qatari royal family member was Abdul Karim al-Thani, the coalition official said. The official added that Mr. al-Thani provided Qatari passports and more than $1 million in a special bank account to finance the network. I bet there are similar charitable people in the Kuwaiti and UAE royal families, although i'm sure no Saudi would ever fund terrorist groups Mr. al-Thani, who has no government position, is, according to officials in the gulf, a deeply religious member of the royal family who has provided charitable support for militant causes for years and has denied knowing that his contributions went toward terrorist operations. I wonder if this guy has anything to do with the coup Private support from prominent Qataris to Al Qaeda is a sensitive issue that is said to infuriate George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence. After the Sept. 11 attacks, another senior Qaeda operative, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who may have been the principal planner of the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was said by Saudi intelligence officials to have spent two weeks in late 2001 hiding in Qatar, with the help of prominent patrons, after he escaped from Kuwait. Hopefully this will be dealt with after Iraq along with the Saudis |
| Posted by:Paul |
| #1 There was a report in November that we have a Bahraini royal in Guantanamo. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-02-06 18:44:03 |