saudi funding worldwide

[Guest guest]

cross post

The article below shows how Saudi funded institutions shaped the US Army manwho

recently killed his fellow Americans in the Iraq war.(Also, see the following

site for an overview of the multi-billion dollarSaudi program to spread its

version of Islam

worldwide:http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/20030131/feat1en.htmNOTE IN

PARTICULAR THE SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY CHAIRS AT HARVARD AND U OFCALIFORNIA:King

Fahd Chair for Sharia Studies at Harvard University.King Abdul Aziz Chair at

the University of California.See overview of such Saudi academic programs in

USA:http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/408No wonder some Indian leftists on

the Harvard faculty mobilized tounsuccessfully get Infinity Foundation

blackballed. THEY HAD SOLD OUT TOTHESE BIG MONEY

INFLUENCES.)-------------------------http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowbray040303.aspBEGIN

QUOTE:Joel Mowbray, “The House that Raised Akbar: An Army Sergeant’s Ties to

SaudiArabia.” April 3rd 2003.[Author’s home

page:http://www.townhall.com/columnists/joelmowbray/archive.shtml ]With the

Islamic connection virtually undeniable in the Asan Akbar grenadecase, the

question inevitably arises: Where is the Saudi money?Akbar is the black Muslim

Army sergeant who, after killing two and wounding14 of his fellow soldiers when

he hurled a grenade into a tent in Kuwait,ranted, "You guys are coming into our

countries and you're going to rape ourwomen and kill our children." So, what

about the Saudi money? It's not somuch a case of paranoia, as it is a

realization that Saudi money has aneerie habit of popping up around Islamic

extremism the world over. And inthe case of Akbar, the answer is:

everywhere.Akbar grew up attending a Saudi-funded mosque in South Central Los

Angeles,and later moved to a mosque dominated by a Saudi-created and

-fundedorganization. In the military, his Muslim chaplain at Fort Campbell

wastrained and certified by Saudi-funded organizations set up by a

Muslimactivist with deep Saudi ties. It's possible that all this Saudi

moneyproduced no Islamic extremism at any of these points in Akbar's life —

butempirical evidence suggests that that's unlikely.Attending the mosque across

the street from his home, the young Akbar spenta lot of time during his

formative years at the Bilal Islamic Center,according to the center's imam,

Abdul Karim Hasan. Hasan, in a phoneinterview with NRO, recalls a "reserved"

and "studious" boy. But when askedabout any possible Saudi connection to his

mosque, Hasan — perhapsunderstandably defensive, in the current anti-Saudi

climate — is quick tosay that he does not take money from the "Saudi

government," though heconceded that he receives funds from Saudi "individuals."

That's notentirely true, however.According to the website of the Islamic

Development Bank — amultibillion-dollar investment outfit run by many Arab

governments, butbased in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Bilal Islamic Center recently

received a$295,000 grant from ISD to build a new school. Considering the

statedpurpose of ISD — to advance Muslim communities in accordance with

sharia(Islamic law) — one wonders what the center's new school will be

teaching.But it's not just the money that raises questions. Bilal Islamic

Center"works closely" with the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City (roughly 45

minutesfrom South Central LA), according to a source at the Culver City mosque

—which is not just named after King Fahd, but is also funded by him. Andbased

on the annual

statement<http://www.ain-al-yaqeen.com/issues/20030131/feat1en.htm> released

by theHouse of Saud on its efforts to spread Islam throughout the world,

BilalIslamic Center is also funded by the kingdom (under the name "Bilal

Mosqueof Los Angeles"), although the exact amount is not specified.When Akbar

left for college in 1989, he did not leave the Saudi-fundedexperience behind.

At the University of California at Davis, Akbar was seenby friends as a devout

Muslim, and multiple reports state that he spentlarge amounts of time at the

nearby Islamic Center of Davis. That center, asit happens, is home to the

UC-Davis chapter of the Muslim StudentsAssociation, a Saudi-created and -funded

national organization with brancheson campuses across the country. It is also

the past, and possibly thepresent, home to someone with surprisingly similar

anti-American sentiments.In a puff piece in December 2000 on the Muslim

students of the IslamicCenter of Davis, then third-year law student Masood Khan

spouted vitrioliccontempt for America, which in many ways mirrors what Akbar

said whilecowering in the bunker after his killing spree. "There have been over

onemillion innocent Iraqis killed by the United States," Khan said. "It's a

warcrime." Not a far cry from the equally obscene comment from Akbar that

"youguys" are going to "rape our women and kill our children."While stationed

at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Akbar was one of roughly 20soldiers who attended

weekly services — and his Muslim chaplain there wastrained and certified by

institutions with significant Saudi funding. Capt.Mohammed Khan, who is

overseas with the 101st Airborne Division, became theArmy's second Muslim

chaplain in 1997 (there are now seven). According to amilitary source, Capt.

Khan trained at the Graduate School of Islamic SocialSciences (GSISS), which

has a history of Saudi funding and was one of 24Muslim organizations raided

last year as part of Operation Greenquest, themulti-agency investigation of

terrorist funding launched by the Treasurydepartment. Khan was certified by the

Islamic Society of North America(ISNA), which was not raided but is affiliated

with the SAAR network (namedfor its wealthy Saudi benefactor Suleiman Abdel

Aziz al-Raghi).To be fair, at the time he received his training and

certification, thoseinstitutions were the only option available to him. But he

does have someWahhabist ties. At an interfaith memorial service marking the

anniversary ofthe murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Capt.

Khan read astatement from the imam at King Fahd Mosque — the same one that

enjoys aclose relationship with the Bilal Islamic Center.The Muslim chaplain

program that Khan completed was created over a decadeago with the help of Ihsan

Bagby, a man who himself has plenty of Saudities. In a phone interview with NRO,

Bagby, an African-American convert toIslam, said that he sees nothing wrong or

sinister with money coming fromSaudi Arabia. Before he started at his current

position at the University ofKentucky, Bagby was a professor at Shaw

University, a black Baptist schoolin North Carolina that has received

substantial Saudi cash. The on-campusmosque at Shaw was built with a $1 million

grant in 1983 from the Saudiking. In 1989, Prince Abdulla Al-Faisal Al Saud of

Saudi Arabia gave theschool, in exchange for an honorary doctorate, a bowl made

of lapis stoneand encrusted with diamonds and pearls, estimated at

$500,000.While Bagby seemed perfectly reasonable in several phone

conversations, backin the late '80s, he made a rather extreme statement about

the role ofMuslims in American society: "Ultimately we can never be full

citizens ofthis country, because there is no way we can be fully committed to

theinstitutions and ideologies of this country."Bagby believes that the tidal

wave of Saudi cash washing up on our shorescould potentially be problematic,

but that it's not, because it has minimalimpact. "[saudi funding] would be

sinister if they were trying to ram downpeople's throats Wahhabism, but that's

simply not true." But countlessreports from around the world indicate that the

Saudis do in fact "ram"Wahhabism "down people's throats." Even an imam based at

the Bilal IslamicCenter has indicated as much. In a 1999 interview with the Los

AngelesTimes, Imam Deen Mohammed praised King Fahd for his financial support

ofIslam, though he acknowledged that when Saudis give money, the unspoken

ruleis that "'we want you to . . . prefer our [Wahhabi] school of

thought.'That's in there whether they say it or not."The web of Saudi money

covering almost every stage of Akbar's Islamicdevelopment does not necessarily

mean that the Saudi cash fostered extremismat either Islamic center Akbar

attended or the chaplain-training provided toCapt. Khan — but the confluence of

Saudi money must at least be scrutinized.The memories of Capt. Christopher Scott

Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone — thesoldiers killed by Akbar — demand no less.

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