The 9/11 Commission Concluded that "Al-Qa'ida Appears to Have Relied on a Core Group of Financial Facilitators Who Raised Money from a Variety of Donors Primarily in the Gulf Countries and Particularly in Saudi Arabia"

U.S. Admits Review of Drone Strike on Reported Yemen Wedding Party
Natasha Lennard

Footage passed on to a human rights group shows graphic aftermath of a strike that enraged Yemenis

VIDEO

The Saudi plan looks doomed from the start, though it could get a lot more Syrians killed before it fails. Yazid Sayegh of the Carnegie Middle East Centre highlights succinctly the risks involved in the venture: "Saudi Arabia could find itself replicating its experience in Afghanistan, where it built up disparate mujahedin groups that lacked a unifying political framework. The forces were left unable to govern Kabul once they took it, paving the way for the Taliban to take over. Al-Qa'ida followed, and the blowback subsequently reached Saudi Arabia."

Yeah. It's complicated.

Thinking back to the U.S. attack on Iraq, it becomes much more clear now that Saddam Hussein's policy of accommodating both Sunnis and Shias in his power structure was not the best one to soothe the interests of outsiders. It's taken over a decade for even a small sliver of the American public to comprehend exactly how the news reports of his rule were manipulated so cleverly to cover up the real interests in Iraq (and throughout the Middle East).

Seven years pass after the CIA report was written during which the US invades Iraq fighting, among others, the newly established Iraq franchise of al-Qa'ida, and becomes engaged in a bloody war in Afghanistan with the resurgent Taliban. American drones are fired at supposed al-Qa'ida-linked targets located everywhere from Waziristan in north-west Pakistan to the hill villages of Yemen. But during this time Washington can manage no more than a few gentle reproofs to Saudi Arabia on its promotion of fanatical and sectarian Sunni militancy outside its own borders.

Evidence for this is a fascinating telegram on "terrorist finance" from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to US embassies, dated 30 December 2009 and released by WikiLeaks the following year. She says firmly that "donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide". Eight years after 9/11, when 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, Mrs Clinton reiterates in the same message that "Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support for al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan] and other terrorist groups". Saudi Arabia was most important in sustaining these groups, but it was not quite alone since "al-Qa'ida and other groups continue to exploit Kuwait both as a source of funds and as a key transit point".

If you thought you knew a little about Bandar Bush's role in "intelligence" activities for the House of Saud (or the U.S), you were probably right.

George Orwell knew a little too.

The reference to the Chechens' role in counterespionage  (remember the Boston bombing fiasco set up by the brothers' uncle who was the CIA head man?) is yet another pretty good indication of poor U.S. media coverage (among other things).

And I have no idea exactly as to how true this is, but it certainly sounds true.

Remind anyone else of Syriana?

My favorite bit of dialogue in Syriana is when Houston oil man Danny Dalton (Tim Blake Nelson) gives his views on how the international oil industry works to attorney Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright): "Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm! Corruption is why you and I are prancin' around in here instead of fightin' over scraps of meat out in the street. Corruption is why we win."

. . . On the movie's Web site put up by Warner Bros., writer-director Stephen Gaghan is quoted as saying that "'Syriana' is a … term used by Washington think-tanks to describe a hypothetical reshaping of the Middle East." But he goes on to say that in the film's title the term is used more abstractly to mean "the fallacious dream that you can successfully remake nation-states in your own image."

Have you read any cogent reporting on this most important foreign/domestic news front from U.S. sources?

So much for the mainstream media's reliability.

To anyone who deals with them, the House of Saud and company are known for habitually making grand promises that they will never keep, especially when it comes to money. Even when money is delivered, the full amount committed is never given and much of it is stolen by their corrupt partners and cronies.  .

Whether it is the unfulfilled 2008 arms contract with Russia that was facilitated with the involvement of Iraqi former CIA asset Iyad Allawi or the overabundant commitments of financial and logistical aid to the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples that never materialized, the Arab petro-sheikhdoms have never done more than talk grandly and then get their propagandists to write articles about their generosity and splendour. Underneath all the grandeur and sparkles there has always been bankruptcy, insecurity, and emptiness. .

A week after the first meeting with Bandar, the Kremlin responded to the media buzz about the attempted bribe by Saudi Arabia.

 

GOP Memo Tells Members How To Sound Empathetic About the Unemployee

Elias Isquith

Republican leadership in the House reminds membership that unemployment is "a personal crisis" for the afflicted