the fifth column

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Article: The Wahhabi Fifth Column Author: Susan Katz

Keatinghttp://www.freelebanon.org/articles/a345.htm Date:January 2003 The

latest public relations missive from Riyadh complains bitterlythat alarmist

Americans "have gotten out of control" with accusationsthat Saudi Arabia

supports terrorism. But there is good reason tostate the opposite: That we

ignore to our peril the degree to whichthe Saudis spread extremist

anti-Americanism. It is particularlyunsettling that the Saudis stoke such

sentiments here, in our owncountry. They do this by funding American outposts

of the intolerant,militant Wahhabi form of Islam.The Saudis have poured an

astonishing sum of money into this effort.Reza F. Safa, author of Inside Islam,

estimated that since 1973, theSaudi government has spent some $87 billion to

promote Wahhabism inthe United States and the Western Hemisphere. In some ways,

such largesse is to be expected from the Al-Saud. Thisold bellicose tribe - the

only ruling family in the world with theaudacity to name a country after itself

- owes much to Wahhabism.The Saudi regime first came to power via an 18th

century alliancebetween two Muhammads: ibn Saud and ibn al Wahhab. Together,

theAl-Saud and the Wahhabis commanded armies that vanquished Arabia.

Theypledged to form a nation based on the principles of Islam. In 1932,

anAl-Saud warlord, Abdul Aziz, fulfilled his ancestor's dream; hedeclared

himself sovereign of his own newly conquered territories,which he named the

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Abdul Aziz adopted theIslamic holy book, the Koran, as

his nation's constitution.To this day, the official constitution of Saudi Arabia

remains theKoran. Saudi officials affirm that their government functions

"intotal adherence to the Islamic religion."This might be little more than a

political curiosity if not for twofactors. First, that a geological twist of

fate gave Saudi Arabiaconsiderable prominence in world economic affairs.

Secondly - andsignificantly - Islam is not content to coexist peacefully with

otherfaiths or systems of government. Says Bernard Lewis, widely recognized as

the foremost Western scholaron Islam: "In time, in the Muslim view, all mankind

will accept Islamor submit to Islamic rule."Hence, while Saudi contributions

toward American Islam are notsurprising, they are deeply worrisome.Of that $87

billion religious propaganda budget, the Saudis haveallocated considerable

line-item space toward institutions that moldminds in the model of Wahhabism.

The most malleable minds belong to children. An estimated 30,000 ofthem attend

Saudi-funded Wahhabi day schools. In America, parochial schools have long been

noted for their higheducational standards. But Wahhabi schools do not emulate

otherAmerican church-based nativities of faith and knowledge; nor do theyfollow

the American model of rigorous intellectual inquiry. The Islamic Saudi Academy

(ISA) in Northern Virginia forthrightlystates that even though it exists on

U.S. soil, it is "subject to thegovernment of the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia."Students at ISA are not required to study U.S. history or

government.They do, however, receive instruction in Wahhabism.Outsiders are not

permitted to observe Wahhabism lessons or any otherclasses at ISA. But early

this year, students at the academy told twoWashington Post reporters some of

the things they learn at school.Among other things, students discover the

intricacies of Judgment Day. One event on that formidable day will be that

Muslims will fight andkill Jews. The cowardly Jews will seek refuge behind

trees. Much likethe trees in the forest scene from the Wizard of Oz, these

trees willbecome animated and aggressive. They will call out to the

righteous:"Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me.

Comehere and kill him."Students also said they are taught "it is better to shun

and even todislike Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims." Furthermore,

studentslearn, it is okay to hurt or steal from a non-Muslim.The Saudi-supplied

textbooks at this and other Wahhabi schools statethat Muslims are obliged to

consider all infidels the enemy. Certainenemies are not even acknowledged in

geography class. Wahhabi schoolsin America are notorious for doctoring maps of

the Middle East, andhanging them in classrooms - with Israel blotted out. Such

is the curriculum of education-minded Saudis. And what of the Saudis'

contributions toward American mosques? According to Safa, the Saudis have

funded more than 80 percent of themosques built in the United States within the

last 20 years. Thenewcomers do not embrace the American religious community's

spirit ofinter-faith cooperation. They are distinctly isolationist.

Thisattitude came to light as early as the 1990's, when Wahhabi mosques

inAmerica refused to accept help from local churches wanting to donatefood to

Bosnian Muslims. Apparently Wahhabis will not work withinfidels, even if the

purpose is to help other Muslims. The Saudis, meanwhile, have directed

considerable outreach toward theAmerican Black Muslim community. In one effort

to showcase the bounties of Wahhabism to this targetaudience, the Saudis'

enfeebled King Fahd pledged as much as $8million for a lavish mosque in shabby

South Central Los Angeles. TheSaudis' Islamic Development Bank pledged an

additional $295,000 for aschool attached to the mosque.From the Saudi

perspective, this and other similar contributions areless an expense than an

investment. According to Safa, as much as 90percent of American converts to

Islam are black. According to someestimates, if the conversion rate continues,

Islam could emerge as adominant religion among urban blacks.This is a trend

worth watching. Many of America's black Muslims haveharshly criticized America,

and have deemed it an "immoral society."Increasingly, black Muslims oppose U.S.

foreign policy in the MiddleEast, and are adopting a Saudi-influenced view of

Arab-Israeli relations.Other Wahhabis in the U.S. advocate a Saudi-style

approach to Americangovernment. Insightful Saudi-watcher Daniel Pipes reports

thatsignificant elements within American Islam seek to replace ourConstitution

with the Koran. A ludicrous fantasy, to be sure; but onethat offers a glimpse

of Wahhabi dreams for America.Far more troubling is the ease with which the

Wahhabis use religionas a means to express and stoke violent impulses. Indeed,

in the daysleading up to Christmas, the Wahhabi on-line magazine

Al-Islampublished this religious passage from the Koran: Against them makeready

your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds ofwar, to strike

terror into (the hearts of) the enemies…. Aparticularly resonant selection,

given the events of September 2001. In the aftermath of those appalling

attacks, Federal officials formedOperation Green Quest, aimed at tracing the

money trail to Islamicterrorism. In the course of their investigation, agents

raided morethan a dozen Saudi-funded organizations, such as the Graduate

Schoolof Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.Investigators are

still working to unravel the complicated network offinancial ties between the

various organizations and their charities. One targeted group, the SAAR

Foundation, had links to the MuslimBrotherhood, which is being investigated by

European and MiddleEastern governments for ties to terrorist organizations,

including thePalestinian Hamas. Among its many other activities, SAAR, which is

nowofficially disbanded, helped fund a Tampa, Florida-based groupsuspected of

having ties to the terrorist Palestinian Islamic Jihad."It's like peeling an

onion," said an intelligence officer familiarwith Operation Green Quest.

"There's always another layer."The organizations and their Saudi enablers

proclaim both innocenceand ignorance. "To hear them tell it," the intelligence

officer says,"they're just a bunch of well-meaning religious folks."As in the

days of old, though, when the two Mohammads acquiredterritory and power via

jihad, Wahhabis are as much about politics asthey are about religion. Former

CIA Director James Woolsey told Congress: "One analogue forWahhabism's

political influence today might be the extremely angryform taken by much of

German nationalism in the period after World WarI." The former spy chief

acknowledged that not all extremists of theday became Nazis. But, he added:

"Just as angry and extreme Germannationalism of that period was the soil in

which Nazism grew, WahhabiIslamist extremism today is the soil in which al

Qaeda and its sisterterrorist organizations are growing."Much of that soil is

spread across the United States. It hosts anascent Wahhabi Fifth Column.

Political commentator William Kristol couches the Saudi's export ofWahhabism -

via its funding of schools, mosques and think tanks inAmerica - as "a clear and

present danger to the United States and itscitizens." America must respond

aggressively to that threat. Rather than acceptcontinued transparent

professions of innocence, Americans must insistthat the Saudis immediately stop

funding Wahhabi schools, mosques,charities and think tanks in this country. We

can no longer toleratesuch an overt onslaught on our national values. Susan

Katz Keating is Director of Special Projects for the FreedomMuseum in Manassas,

Virginia, She is the author of Prisoners of Hope:Exploiting the POW/MIA Myth in

America. She also wrote a book foryoung readers on Saudi Arabia, to be released

in the spring.

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