Israel Matzav

'Our friends the Saudis' behind Iraqi terror?

'Our friends the Saudis' are behind the recent terror attacks in Iraq according to Iraqi sources cited in a report issued by MEMRI. The reason is that Iraq's government is dominated by Shia and the Sunni Saudis won't accept it.

Saudi King 'Abdallah refused to meet with Al-Maliki on the periphery of the March 30, 2009 Doha summit, on the grounds that Saudi Arabia was "not sure that true conciliation has indeed been achieved in Iraq" and that "Al-Maliki has not kept his promise to appease all political forces in Iraq and to involve them [in the political process]." [1] This statement is a manifestation of the conflict between the Saudis and the Shi'ite Iraqi government, with the Saudis having set themselves up as protectors of Iraq's Sunni minority.

The Saudis assume that Iran is influencing the Al-Maliki government and fear the spread of the Iranian/Shi'ite influence in Iraq. Thus, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the U.S. and Britain, has called "to bring Iraq back to the Arab world at any cost, so that it can play its natural role in the Arab nation and serve as a defensive wall against [outside] interference in its own affairs and in the affairs of the [Arab] nation." [2]

In response, Iraqis have recently been attacking Saudi Arabia, depicting it as the main force the destabilization of Iraq. The first to attack Saudi Arabia were Iraqi press commentators, who accused the Saudis of helping terrorists infiltrate Iraq and of being behind suicide attacks carried out on Iraqi soil - especially in light of recent fatwas issued in Saudi Arabia permitting suicide attacks in Iraq as "jihad against the occupiers." Other commentators accused Saudi Arabia of looking down on Iraq and of refusing to accept its Shi'ite government, and called on Al-Maliki to desist from further attempts to visit Saudi Arabia or to meet with its king, and called these attempts humiliating to Al-Maliki, the Iraqi people, and the government. However, one commentator called on Iraq to seek conciliation with its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, and to try to allay their fears, even if those countries were indeed interfering in Iraq's domestic affairs.

Unlike the commentators, Saudi officials have refrained from making explicit allegations against Saudi Arabia. On April 18, 2009, Nouri Al-Maliki called on the countries neighboring Iraq, without mentioning names, to stop supporting terrorism and to show good will towards Iraq. "Stop those who are harming Iraq [via our shared borders], lest Iraq be compelled to defend itself," he said, adding: "Declare your intentions to forge friendly, loving, positive relations [with Iraq]," and "Offer us one finger, so we can offer you our hand [in return]." [3]

However, as terrorism in Iraq increased in the lead-up to the June 30, 2009U.S. withdrawal from Iraq's cities, official Iraqi sources began to openly accuse Saudi Arabia of aiding terrorism in Iraq in order to prevent the withdrawal.Hadi Al-Ameri, chairman of Iraq's parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, accused Saudi Arabia of heading a group of countries in the region opposed to the withdrawal. He said that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the recent bombings in Iraq, and must take a stand against them. He added that the bombings had been financed from outside the country, and that the perpetrators were members of Al-Qaeda and the Iraqi Ba’th Party. Al-Ameri demanded that a firm position be taken against the countries supporting terrorism, indicating that fatwas declaring Shi'ites as apostates issued recently by Saudi clerics had made them targets for violence. [4]

Saudi Arabia, for its part, accused pro-Iranian forces and elements in Iraq of attempting to dissociate Iraq from its Arab dimension and to subjugate it to Iran, and claiming that the statistics showing that Saudis constitute a high proportion of terrorists in Iraq were distorted.

...

In response to these reports, in an April 4, 2009 article posted at www.abdulkhaliqhussein.com, Iraqi reformist and liberal writer Dr. 'Abd Al-Khaliq Hussein, who resides in London, criticized the Saudi regime for religious and ethnic discrimination against all non-Wahhabis, and for aiding terrorism. He stated that the Saudi regime abhorred Iraq's democracy and that only the restoration of the Sunni Ba'th rule in the country would satisfy it. He wrote: "It must be noted that this is not the first time King 'Abdallah has refused to meet with Al-Maliki. The same thing happened… over a year ago, when Saudi Arabia refused to receive Al-Maliki on [other] hollow pretexts…

"Relations between Iraq and Wahhabi Saudi Arabia have never been good… The only time they improved at all was during the dark era of Saddam's Ba'th party, which caused the Iraqi people great suffering."

Dr. Hussein ridiculed Saudi Arabia's excuses for refusing to meet with Al-Maliki: "Fancy the Saudi king being concerned that all political forces should be involved in running [Iraq] - when it is well known that in his country the ruling family has usurped all authority, precluding even its own people from participating in government - not to mention treating members of non-Wahhabi ethnic groups as [the lowest caste]… [In contrast,] the Iraqi government is the only government in the Arab world, and in the [entire] Middle East, elected by the people in free elections…"

Dr. Hussein further stated: "The true reason for the Saudi king's refusal to meet with Al-Maliki is his disgraceful ethnic [bias] and his abhorrence of Iraqi democracy. The Saudi regime will never be satisfied with a government in Iraq that comprises all elements of the Iraqi people… Has a Shi'ite Iraqi no right to be president in his country, if he has attained the post via fair elections?... The Saudi regime can envision conciliation [with Iraq] only if the fascist Ba'th regains power…"

Dr. Hussein emphasized the hypocrisy and double standard of the Saudi attitude towards terrorism. He wrote: "It should be noted that every year the Saudi king doles out tens of millions of dollars to convene summits for what is known as the 'interfaith dialogue,' so as to render [the Saudi regime's] ugly face less disgusting and to wash it clean of its aid to the Wahhabi terrorism that is ravaging the world… The Arab, and especially Saudi, media calls terrorism in Iraq 'jihad' and 'national resistance' - but when these very organizations carry out the same [kind of] operations in their own countries, they call it 'terrorism.'"

Dr. Hussein concluded: "The Saudi regime will not accept the situation in Iraq unless the Ba'th regains power… The Saudis will not accept Al-Maliki, or anyone else, unless he abolishes democracy and opens the door for the return of the Ba'th members…

"Thus, I call on Al-Maliki to stop trying to visit Saudi Arabia or to meet with the Saudi king - because these attempts humiliate himself, our people's honor, and our national government." [16]

...

The most forceful accusation against Saudi Arabia came from Hadi Al-Ameri, chairman of Iraq's parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, who accused Saudi Arabia of heading a group of countries in the region that opposed the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq's cities. Al-Almeri said that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the recent bombings in Iraq, and must take a stand against them. He added that the bombings had been financed from outside the country, and that the perpetrators were members of Al-Qaeda and the Iraqi Ba’th Party. [19]

In the article mentioned above, Dr. 'Abd Al-Khaliq Hussein accused Saudi Arabia of promoting terrorism in Iraq: "Reliable reports have proven that 50% of all terrorists sent to Iraq, as well as most of those who carry out suicide attacks there, are from Saudi Arabia. As is well known, the Saudi regime is a police regime, [so that] no Saudi terrorist can enter Iraq without the authorization and blessing of the Saudi government." [20]

The Aswat Al-Iraq website also held Saudi Arabia responsible for suicide terrorist attacks carried out in Iraq in years past: "According to reports published following violent operations [in Iraq], most of those Al-Qaeda [members] who carried out suicide attacks [there] are Saudis who crossed into Iraq from neighboring countries, with the aim of carrying out their missions in Iraqi cities. Likewise, Saudi clerics have issued fatwas permitting terrorist attacks in Iraq. The most notorious of these was issued three years ago, by 26 Saudi clerics; in it, they sanctioned all means, including suicide attacks, on the grounds that they served "jihad against the occupier." [21]

Reports of Saudis' involvement in terrorist attacks in Iraq have appeared recently in both the Saudi and Iraqi press. The London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat stated that a senior Al-Qaeda official, a Saudi, who served as an Al-Qaeda commander in a Saudi-Iraqi border area, had turned himself in to the Saudi authorities. Security sources reported that the official possessed extensive information about Al-Qaeda cells recruiting operatives in Saudi Arabia for terrorist activities in Iraq. [22] Similarly, the Basra operations headquarters reported that during a raid on a house in the southern part of the city of Basra, Iraqi security forces had arrested a commander of Al-Qaeda in southern Iraq, Ihsan Mu'jam, a Saudi national, as well as three of his Iraqi aides. [23] The Saudi Interior Ministry announced that Saudi security forces had received no information in this regard from their Iraqi colleagues. [24]

There's much more.

Plausible? It sure sounds like it. Although we know that 'our friends the Saudis' would never carry out acts of terrorism against infidels, would they?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:35 PM