Daily Alert Archives

The Saudi-Al Qaeda Connection

(Newsweek) Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball - A cache of documents purportedly recovered from the files of ex-Taliban chief Mullah Omar in Afghanistan provides potentially damning new evidence of a secretive money trail through which millions of dollar in funds from Saudi Arabia allegedly flowed to al-Qaeda terrorists in the late 1990s. One document appears to be a direct order from Mullah Omar to the Afghan ambassador in Pakistan to turn over $2 million "in Saudi Arabia aids" to Jon Juma Namangani who headed the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which the U.S. State Department designated a terrorist group. Other documents appear to show the Taliban leader ordering similar releases of millions of dollars in funds "from the aids of Saudi Arabia, brotherly country," as well as the "the brotherly nation" of the United Arab Emirates. Other orders refer to "Wafa aids" and "the aids of Al-Rasheed" - two apparent references to Islamic charities that have been linked by U.S. officials to the financing of terrorism. Just this week, the top White House official responsible for counterterrorism policy, Francis Townsend, returned to Saudi Arabia to iron out the details of a newly created joint U.S.-Saudi task force that is supposed to share "real-time" intelligence to track terrorist financiers. But on Capitol Hill, there is deep skepticism that the Saudis are serious about cracking down, and at least three Senate committees have launched investigations into the issue. In addition, a Senate resolution threatening Saudi Arabia with economic sanctions - unless the president annually certifies the country is taking demonstrable steps to curb the financing of terror groups - is rapidly gaining support.
2003-09-12 00:00:00
Full Article