The religious diplomacy of Saudi Arabia constitutes a strange black hole in the analysis of radicalism that affects Islam and the Middle East today. Why has Salafism, the most intolerant and sectarian movement of Islam, become so prevalent? Of all the religious radicalisms that rot the planet, it is the only one to enjoy the constant support of a country endowed with immense means: the Saudi kingdom. This study, whose collaborators wanted to remain anonymous, reveals how the two sides of the kingdom – the conciliatory one of the Saud dynasty and the more aggressive Salafism, propagandist of jihad – has for decades developed a religious strategy to conquer the Muslim community and the West without appearing as an enemy. One of the most striking examples is the absence of sanctions or even accusations by George W. Bush towards Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks even with fifteen identified Saudis among the terrorists. The kingdom's influence is largely unknown but undoubtedly acts as a key player throughout the Muslim world through their financing of conservative Koranic schools, universities and mosques, as well as other international public and private organizations. But after years of financing radical Islamists in foreign lands, Saudi Arabia now finds itself threatened in their own territory, the monster they have given birth to turned against them.
Saudi Arabia influences American policy through both conventional and unconventional methods, all due to the petro-dollars that have been generated from America's addiction to foreign oil. With chapters written by renowned experts, this book uses first-hand accounts to explore this vast influence
The United States' war on terrorism has seen some impressive victories since the horrific attacks two Septembers ago. The removal of the terrorist coddling Taliban regime in Afghanistan was a strong blow to Al Qaeda's training camps and ability to project worldwide terror. Also, the dismantling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, which admittedly supplied funds to terrorist organizations, was a major boost to removing serious funding and support for terrorism. But has the United States truly made significant progress in razing the world's ability to project terror against Americans? Some proponents claim that there are much more important, terrifying threats brewing to attack the United States. Author Alex Alexiev states, "Murderous as it is, al-Qaeda is a symptom, not the cause, of the terrorist phenomenon". So then, what other phenomena are the causes for underpinning America's war on terrorism? "Our problem is a dangerous and widespread malignancy, a kind of Islamic fascism, which has metastasized throughout the international Muslim community. While it uses an interpretation of Islam as its ideological banner, Islamic fascism is much closer to Nazism and Communism in its essence than to traditional Islam," The epitome of this analysis rests in one of our greatest 'allies' in the Middle East. Many neo-cons in Washington are claiming that the strong fundamentalist movement in Saudi Arabia is actually the most important target in the war on terrorism. Extremist Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia threatens to transform Islam into a fanatical machine, bent on destroying infidels who refuse their blend of ideology. The House of Saud accepts, or at least tolerates, this ideology to be the official religious creed in Saudi Arabia. So one of the United States' better allies condones, and some would argue encourages, the type of ideology that threatens their war on terrorism more than practically any other threat. Can these two seemingly incompatible goals be sustained? Much has been made of Saudi Arabia's leisurely pursuit of terrorists, even after September 11th. Although there has been a more dramatic campaign against terrorists since the Riyadh bombing earlier this year, one has to wonder how serious these actions are and if their true intentions are the capturing of people who either follow or are sympathetic to the fanatical, extremist form of Islam that Saudi Arabia promotes. Still others contemplate the impropriety that the Saudis and Wahhabism are really the threat that some are proposing and may fulfill the prophecy of the 'clash of civilizations' or the war on Islam. "Saudi religious practices and institutions were not problems when the Carter and Reagan administrations were promoting jihad against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan . . . [S]ince it [jihad by thousands of Mujahadeens] dovetails with myriad anti-imperialistic forces in the region and world, 'Wahhabism' has become a major concern. This is where the so-called 'War on Terrorism' really does threaten to become a war on Islam," author Gary Leupp proclaims. At the very least, an investigation of what threats are emerging from Saudi Arabia and the followers of their extremist creed, their support for terrorist activities and what are the feasible policy options the United States can employ to produce the most productive outcome.
With the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright became generally acknowledged as one of our major journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. Here, in ten powerful pieces first published in The New Yorker, he recalls the path that terror in the Middle East has taken, from the rise of al-Qaeda in the 1990s to the recent beheadings of reporters and aid workers by ISIS. The Terror Years draws on several articles he wrote while researching The Looming Tower, as well as many that he’s written since, following where and how al-Qaeda and its core cultlike beliefs have morphed and spread. They include a portrait of the “man behind bin Laden,” Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the tumultuous Egypt he helped spawn; an indelible impression of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom of silence under the control of the religious police; the Syrian film industry, at the time compliant at the edges but already exuding a feeling of the barely masked fury that erupted into civil war; the 2006–11 Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, a study in the disparate value of human lives. Other chapters examine al-Qaeda as it forms a master plan for its future, experiences a rebellion from within the organization, and spins off a growing web of worldwide terror. The American response is covered in profiles of two FBI agents and the head of the intelligence community. The book ends with a devastating piece about the capture and slaying by ISIS of four American journalists and aid workers, and our government’s failed response. On the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, The Terror Years is at once a unifying recollection of the roots of contemporary Middle Eastern terrorism, a study of how it has grown and metastasized, and, in the scary and moving epilogue, a cautionary tale of where terrorism might take us yet.
An eye-opening look at the source of the current wave of Saudi Arabian-sponsored terrorism, how it spread, and why the West did nothing. Here is the truth about ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and more. Lifting the mask of international terrorism, Terence Ward reveals a sinister truth. Far from being “the West’s ally in the War on Terror,” Saudi Arabia is in reality the largest exporter of Wahhabism—the severe, ultra-conservative sect of Islam that is both Saudi Arabia’s official religion and the core ideology for international terror groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Boko Haram. Over decades, the Saudi regime has engaged in a well-crafted mission to fund charities, mosques, and schools that promote their Wahhabi doctrine across the Middle East and beyond. Efforts to expand Saudi influence have now been focused on European cities as well. The front lines of the War of Terror aren’t a world away; they are much closer than we can imagine. Terence Ward, who has spent much of his life in the Middle East, gives his unique insight into the culture of extremism, its rapid expansion, and how it can be stopped.
One of the best resources for a thorough understanding of Saudi foreign policy is the Saudi Cables database at Wikileaks. This study is the first exploration into this rich trove of information almost ignored until now. The material selected for this volume provides e. g., evidence-based insight into the ways Wahhabi Islam is propagated all around the world.
Since its formation in 1932, Saudi Arabia has been ruled by two interdependent families. The Al Sa’uds control politics and the descendants of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab impose Wahhabism—a violent, fanatical perversion of the pluralistic Islam practiced by most Muslims. Stephen Schwartz argues that Wahhabism, vigorously exported with the help of Saudi oil money, is what incites Palestinian suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden, and other Islamic terrorists throughout the world. Schwartz reveals the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime, whose moderate facade conceals state-sponsored repression and terrorism. He also raises troubling questions about Wahhabi infiltration of America’s Islamic community and about U.S. oil companies sanitizing Saudi Arabia’s image for the West. This sharp analysis and eye-opening expose illuminates the background to the September 11th terrorist attacks and offers new approaches for U.S. policy toward its closest ally in the Middle East.
Without money, terrorists cannot function as organizations and cannot conduct attacks. Yet the questions remain, how vulnerable are terrorists to financial disruptions? Can governments put pressure on their finances in meaningful ways or are they too resilient and adaptive to be affected by state actions? These and other questions about terrorism financing are vigorously debated by scholars and policymakers, particularly since the attacks of September 11th 2001 . While there is a growing literature on policy issues, strategies, and countermeasures, states must first understand their enemies before developing strategies to defeat them. So, instead of focusing on the state response, this book asks a more foundational question: How do different terrorist groups actually raise money? What are their budgets? What do their portfolios look like? How have they changed over time? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different sources of financing? The book includes case studies of 11 different terrorist groups or sets of groups within a country. It is clear that each group has a different portfolio tailored to their needs and their environment and this makes countering terrorist financing more challenging for the state. This topical book will be required reading for all students and scholars interested in terrorism financing as well as those working in government agencies tasked with combating terrorist groups and their financial resources.
This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.
How is it possible for one middle-aged Saudi millionaire to threaten the world's only superpower? This is the question at the center of Jonathan Randal's riveting, timely account of Osama bin Laden's life and role in the rise of terrorism in the Middle East. Randal traces the current sources of Osama's money and tells us why the Iraq war has played into the hands of the terrorists, while also providing essential insight and background on the history of American involvement in the Middle East. With his long-maintained sources in the Middle East and his intimate understanding of the region, Randal gives us a clearer explanation than any we have had of the whys and wherefores of the world's most prominent and feared terrorist.
