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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (197465)	10/29/2001 8:32:57 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Time for Saudis to act: Ruling family has done little to combat terrorism A Register-Guard Editorial October 29, 2001 registerguard.com Saudi Arabia has exhibited a disturbing tolerance for terrorism, both before and after last month's terror attacks on the United States. At least eight of the kamikaze hijackers were Saudis, as is the mastermind, Osama bin Laden. Yet no assets have been frozen in the kingdom, including those of Saudi citizens and charities that U.S. officials have said are inextricably linked to terrorist operations. Although it has become clear that money and manpower from Saudi Arabia has helped create and expand bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization, the royal family has yet to publicly acknowledge that even one of its citizens could have played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks. Until recently, Saudi Arabia was a primary sponsor of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement. The Taliban has managed to keep control of the government - and tighten its grip - through Saudi financial and diplomatic assistance. The Saudis also have sponsored the fundamentalist Pakistani schools known as madrassas, breeding grounds for militant Muslim extremism. Then there is bin Laden, whose familial, ideological and financial roots are in Saudi Arabia. Although the ruling family long ago stripped him of citizenship, prominent Saudi businessmen reportedly are still funding bin Laden and al-Qaeda through a number of shady Saudi charities. Yet Saudi officials have refused U.S. pleas from to freeze bin Laden's assets and those of his associates - or even to allow U.S. investigators to pursue suspects inside the kingdom. Contrast that with the swift action by 62 other countries around the world that have ordered their financial institutions to block assets since Sept. 11. The Saudis also have refused to allow the U.S. military to use Saudi air bases to launch attacks against Afghanistan, although they allow use of their bases for indirect action. Prince Nayef, the Saudi interior minister, has openly declared that his government does not approve of the American military response in Afghanistan. Saudi apologists in the United States contend that the royal family is doing much behind the scenes to curb terrorism, including sharing intelligence with U.S. officials. They also note, with some justification, that the Saudi government must tread carefully when dealing with the fundamentalist Wahhabi Islamic sect, which harbors militants sympathetic to al-Qaeda and which is also pivotal to the monarch's hold on power. But Americans deserve a stronger, more open response from a country that has been this country's closest ally in the Persian Gulf since before World War II. Fearful of stemming the flow of Saudi oil and money into this country, U.S. officials have long kept silent about the royal family's notorious corruption, its horrific human rights abuses and its refusal to entertain even the trappings of democracy. The time for silence has ended. It's time to demand that Saudi Arabia end its deadly tolerance for terrorism.