Linkmeister

Funding al-Qaeda

"Follow the money," Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein during their Watergate investigation, creating a phrase which has become a dictum for all subsequent reporters. So who's still funding Osama bin Laden, six years after 9/11?

Well, ABC News says he still gets lots of money from shadowy Saudi figures (video link), among other sources.

Despite some efforts as a U.S. ally in the war on terror, Levey says Saudi Arabia has dropped the ball. Not one person identified by the United States and the United Nations as a terror financier has been prosecuted by the Saudis, Levey says.

"When the evidence is clear that these individuals have funded terrorist organizations, and knowingly done so, then that should be prosecuted and treated as real terrorism because it is," Levey says.

Among those on the donor list, according to U.S. officials, is Yasin al Qadi, a wealthy businessman named on both the U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda financiers one month after the 9/11 attacks.

The Saudis have been treated with kid gloves for the past forty years by Administrations of all persuasions, but it does seem a little overdone with this one. Remember GWB holding hands with the prince at a meeting a few years back? Remember that Prince Bandar has often been referred to as Bandar Bush for his close ties to the Bush family?

At what point does the United States say enough?

We have a little leverage, since the Saudis want to buy American weapons; we could say "not until you turn off the money flows and arrest the al-Qaeda financiers." Is that so hard?

Posted by Linkmeister at September 12, 2007 11:39 AM | TrackBack