Analysts: Al Qaeda May Have Exploited Saudis' Charitable Giving to Fund

[bemildred]

September 11.

I don't usually go to Faux, but this was too funny.
I guess we can call the Saudi's the un-terrorists now.


JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's tradition of charitable giving to
Muslim causes may have been exploited by Al Qaeda (search) to raise
money for the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts said Saturday as the Saudi
government refuted allegations of links to terrorists.

A Congressional report on the Sept. 11 terror attacks
examines interactions between Saudi businessmen and the
royal family that may have intentionally or unwittingly aided Al Qaeda or the
suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the unreleased
sections.

The editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper
suggested that Al Qaeda, headed by Saudi-born and educated Usama bin
Laden (search), had knowledge of Saudi society and laws and took
advantage of both to collect funds.

"The reality that the committee sought not to admit is that Al
Qaeda is a highly developed organization, extremely secretive, and took
advantage of the benevolence and naivete of Saudis," Abdul-Rahman
al-Rashid wrote in Saturday's Arab News newspaper.

Fox news

[dansolo]

1. Typical Republican excuse

This is the same thing that George Bush (both of them), and Ken Lay claimed. They want us to believe that it is the nasty people around them who devise all of these schemes and that they are completely oblivious. I'm sorry, but "I was out of the loop" isn't going to cut it.

[demgrrrll]

2. I think it is good to know how they are going to spin this .

I think that the really, we had no idea defense is going to look fairly thin to most thinking people. I would expect that Fox is going to be beating this drum 24/7 to try and save the Chimp.

[Gin]

3. Poor Saudi Royal family....everyone is pickin on them..all 5000 of them

gin

[Cassandra]

4. Republican closets rattle so much...

that when they're finally opened, they risk getting buried under a pile of old bones.

[The Stranger]

5. It is atypical for Faux (or anyone else) not to demonize the Saudis.

Maybe they are on to something for a change.

(I'm assuming that was your point.)

[bemildred]

7. I was taken by the difference in rhetorical treatment

of "friends" like SA, and "enemies" like Iran. I don't
have any particular beef with the Saudis, although they do have
their issues.

But mostly, as you note, I was taken by the spineless obedience
of Fox reportage to current spin.

[gulliver]

6. Right. What if Saddam gave to those charities?

The spin machine is on full blast now. Bush said Iraq has a link to al Qaeda, but chose to hide the fact that Saudi Arabia does. The GOP is grasping at straws now to save the Saudis and Bush.

Without investigation we are expected to believe that 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudis but that the Saudis did everything they could to protect us and to stop al Qaeda. Does the GOP think people will buy that?

More likely the Saudis tolerated bin Laden to keep bin Laden from doing to them what he did to us. They allowed their country to become a leading exporter of terror, and Bush, the GOP, and Fox news want to make excuses for them. The people in the Saudi government who supported al Qaeda (reportedly) were spies. The Saudis who supported charities funneling money to al Qaeda were innocent dupes. Sure they were.