October 29, 2005
Our Friends, Allies, Adversaries, The Saudis!
Once Upon A time, In A Land Far Away... A regional panjandrum by the improbable name of Muhammad bin Saud met a fellow panjandrum cum mystic, then a radical islamist, by the equally improbable name of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab and decided together that the Arabian Peninsula had just too much freedom in the way Islam was practiced. Deciding that their fellow Islamic Arabs had just gotten too far off the beaten path to true salvation (can you see a cult beginning?) a plan to conquer everyone was put-together. The year? Around 1750 AD (the AD is Anno Domini, an Un PC designation meaning After Christ, for those raised in the PC version C.E. meaning Common Era). The TM's (Two Muhammads) put their plan into action and for the next 150 years, the family of Saud waxed and waned until the advent of another Saud, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud who in that year captured Riyadh from the rival Al Rashid clan. Indeed, some of the worst trepidations visited on Muslims were visited at the hands of the Wahhabists Riyadh was the Al Saud ancestral capital, Saud was able to finalize his conquests by 1927, and the kingdom became Saudi Arabia.
The religious movement founded by Muhammad ibn abd al Wahhab is known today as the radical-islamofascistic sect Wahhabism, although the practitioners of that sect would disagree with that definition. They (and the Kingdom) prefer to call it Salafism and its members Salafists:
The term "Wahhab" (WahhÄÂÂbÄ«ya) refers to the movement's founder Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab. It is rarely used by members of this group today, although the Saudis did use it in the past.Saudi Arabia and its people are quite backwards in terms of social progress. They still practice beheading, amputation of feet and hands for theft, lashing, sometimes for months depending on the number of lashes prescribed by the "judge" who is really just a religious figure appointed by the King on the advice of the Supreme Judicial Council. All law is compatible with Shari'a (Islamic law) and is enforced by religious police ("mutaween" police) from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. In fact, these animals (one hesitates to call them police) prevented a number of school children from escaping from a burning dormitory because the girls weren't clad in headscarves and black robes as prescribed by religious law. Nor would these animals allow men to approach the girls to rescue them from certain death because they were unclad. As a result, 15 children died in the fire.The Wahhabis claim to hold to the way of the "Salaf as-Salih", the 'rightly guided or pious predecessors' as earlier propagated mainly by Ibn Taymiyya, his students Ibn Al Qayyim and later by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab and his followers.
The term is considered offensive by some members who prefer to call themselves al-Muwahhidun (the monotheists) or the movement Salafism.
In 1938, oil was discovered on the Arabian Peninsula and the power to grow Wahhabism as envisioned by the TM's was closer and closer to fruition. In 1945, one of our most sophisticated Presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt deigned to meet with Saud following the allied conference at Yalta. Oil revenue made the Kingdom rich beyond belief and allowed the expansion via funding construction of mosques and Qur'an schools around the world. Including schools in all of the western countries.
This growing of Islam via building of mosques, and the establishment of madrassas an Islamic religious school. A simple GoogleTM search will yield over 10,900,000 internet sites mentioning "Islamic Schools."
What is taught in these schools is not the 3 Rs to be sure. The Islamic Schools League of America lists as it's vision:
The Islamic Schools' League of America envisions and works towards the day when Islamic schools will be the preferred centers for learning and leadership that nurture and encourage America's youth to develop their innate creativity and inquisitive nature in the pursuance of academic excellence while anchoring their hearts and souls in a moral framework of a God-centered life.Really? Subjugating women, executing gays, cutting hands and feet off of thieves? That kind of "moral framework?" How about the dreaded religious police that allowed the 15 children to die? That kind of moral framework?
This is the problem with the Saudi's. I probably need not mention that the Saudi's have been the largest contingent by far of terrorists striking the WTC and Pentagon, of terrorists caught/killed in Iraq, and captured here in the United States as proponents of terrorism, money laundering in support of terrorism and the trashing of banking laws to support terrorists. Indeed, while the Kingdom purports to support the United States, and the WOT, the fact of the matter is that the scoundrels have actively supported the very institutions behind the terrorists. A survey last year showed that almost half of all Saudis support Osama Bin Laden
A good blog friend Joerg Wolf who writes for Atlantic Review has penned an excellent piece on the Saudis, their support of terrorism and how the United States is, one must assume through sheer stupidity and indifference, turning a blind eye to the practices of the Salifists. Joerg makes an excellent point:
According to the State Department, religious freedom is non-existent in Saudi Arabia. While Eritrea was punished for lack of religious freedom under the Religious Freedom of Information Act, Saudi Arabia got another waiver for half a year.This cannot continue unless we are willing (and I for one am not) to submit to Islam in dhimmitude.
It is said that no one is as blind as those that will not see and this certainly applies to the apologists for the Saudi royal family and the practice of Wahhabism. It is an absolute fact that we are totally dependent, as a people and as an economy, on oil. Yet, we are more dependent on foreign oil (read Saudi and our non-friends the Venezuelans) than we were even in the long gas lines of the Carter years. Because the Saudi's own fully 25 percent of the known supplies of oil in the world, it is felt that we must cater to this socially, economically and politically backward government. Enough, perhaps, with a major drive towards energy independence, much as we did at Oak Ridge during WWII to develop nuclear power, we could wean ourselves from Saudi influence.
I also believe we should shut down every Islamic school in America (so should the English and the Europeans) as an absolute threat to western civilization, not because of the religious teachings of Islamic schools, but because Wahhbism preaches hate, overthrow of other forms of government and the establishment of the Wahhabi sect. It will be argued of course, that we are a free society with full freedom of religion. However, freedom of religion is not allowed in Saudi Arabia and 100 percent of the population is Islamic. Further, if you have so much as a stamp in your passport from Israel, you will not be allowed into Saudi Arabia. The belief in freedom of religion does not extend to making a suicide pact with ourselves. It is rapidly reaching a moral imperative that we do something about this pernicious sect, while we still can. I wonder if the The Islamic Schools' League of America envisions and works towards the day when Islamic schools will be the preferred centers for learning and leadership that nurture and encourage America's youth to develop their innate creativity and inquisitive nature in the pursuance of academic excellence includes their innate inquisitive nature when it comes to learning about God from a non-Wahhabi instructor? Somehow, I think not!
Other sites on a theme: Frank Gaffney, Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer all at Front Page Mag. Jason Pappas at Liberty and Culture, Elenor at 6th Column, Martin Walker writing in Walker's World, The American Congress for Truth (HT to Always On Watch with a great entry here) & others.
Linked at Euphoric Reality, at Mudville Gazette, at The Political Teen, Don Surber
Choose Life
Updated
On point, GM.
They are just another example of a country governed and peopled by critters who believe that God created man to live a miserable existence under the thumb of religious extremists, with women as the chattel of men. And they are among the worst of the lot.
I believe that once we've got Iraq and the problems related to Syria and Iran sorted out in one way and another, Saudi Arabia will have its turn in the barrel. There doesn't seem to be any alternative, as long as they continue on the same track they'll be a danger to any and all things we accomplish in their neck of the woods.
Posted by Seth at October 29, 2005 12:56 PM
I could be wrong, but I do not believe that another Middle Eastern nation can match the Saudis in their public relations efforts, designed to convince American lawmakers that the Saudis are indeed our friends, our allies, and (excuse the burp) our soul-mates. As pointed out here, nothing could be further from the truth. Contrary to the hype presented by the many tiers of the Saudi Royal family, it is not a coincidence that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
Now of course, the Saudis are playing a dangerous game. At one level, they are pretending to take a hard line with their internal variety of terrorist; they want to prove to the United States that they are indeed taking responsibility for the homegrown version of barbarianism. At another level, they encourage Wahhabist clerics to spew their form of oral cancer to the mostly ignorant masses, thereby encouraging the exported variety of terrorism. The truth, as I see it, is that the Saudi program designed to prosecute the homegrown version of terrorist is one that simply targets those who impose a threat to the Saudi Royal family anyway. And, it would seem that the validity of my statement concerning Wahhabists is borne out in a number of ways. (1) Saudi journalists and editors continue to publish the most outlandish stories about Americans and Jews; (2) The Saudi government continues to provide massive amounts of money to Wahabbists causes, including disinformation and terrorism, and (3) the Saudi government is the source of funding for building, maintaining, and staffing Wahhabist madrassahs inside the USA and other western cultures.
Where I may disagree with my distinguished friend GM is that I do not think that the U. S. government should close down madrassahs because the Saudis do not permit freedom of religion in their own country. Rather, I think the U. S. government should close down Saudi (Wahhabist) madrassahs because they pose a clear and present danger to the security of the United States and its people. Where I believe that President Bush has failed us is that he spends entirely too much time kissing Saudi ass, and too little time (and funding) tracking down illegal immigrants (many of whom are Middle Eastern), and sending a stern message to the Saudis that indeed, they could be “next†to experience the tip of the American spear.
Posted by Mustang at October 29, 2005 04:01 PM
GM, a great summary of the history of Saudia Arabia. We've dug ourselves into a deep hole here; we've sowed the wind with our abject appeasement policies since the 1950's (e.g. Suez Crisis of 1956) and we've been reaping the harvest.
Our success in neutralizing the Saudi inroads at this point largely rests on our efforts in Iraq to transform the strategic equation and to introduce Western ideals of democracy, nationhood, and economics to the Arab world as an alternative to the atavistic tribalism and oppression of women, etc. that has strangled their societies.
Regarding your proposal to shut down all Islamic schools, I would be very reluctant to go down that path as this would form a precedent in the future to shut down other private schools and home schools if they did not conform to PC strictures on issues such as gay relationships, etc. Of course, any school that was provably promoting armed insurrection or other "clear and present dangers" should be closed down on those grounds.
What could be looked at more closely, though, is the issue of financing from foreign powers, suborning of public officials, and more publicity about the curriculum of these schools. We also need to investigate more closely the funding and policies of various university-level institutes funded by the Saudis which our avaricious university officials are all too eager to approve.
I've invited Jason Pappas of Liberty and Culture to join in this discussion. I think he would have some interesting insights.
That's all for now.
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CT, you are correct and I've changed the entry a tad bit to explain that I'm not for closing the schools for religious reasons, but because of the hate and takeovers to re-establish the Caliphate by force if necessary, but other means (from within) if possible that the Wahhabists preach.
Posted by civil truth at October 29, 2005 04:14 PM
GM,
An excellent article here! I hope that Jason stops by as he is a font of more information and insights.
The House of Saud has been playing a dangerous game ever since coming to power. The Wahhabists brought the House to power.
I recently read that some 80% of U.S. mosques are funded by Saudi. Add to that the fact that the recent Senate hearings regarding Saudi's Wahhabist ties were canceled this week. I blogged that issue just a short while ago.
You said, "I also believe we should shut down every Islamic school in America (so should the English and the Europeans) as an absolute threat to western civilization." We have several of those schools here in the D.C. area; Ahmed Abu Ali graduated from the Islamic Saudi Academy, where he learned, via the school's curriculum, his pathological hatred of Jews and of Israel. The head of CAIR, Ibrahim Hooper, unsuccessfully attempts to stonewall that serious matter, yet Hooper is not held accountable by any of the msm.
For more info regarding madrassahs here within our borders, see
http://cedarmailer.com/americancongress/
pages/archive/messagedetails.asp?ID=301
Posted by Always On Watch at October 29, 2005 05:39 PM
GM,
Thanks for the link.
Damn! I'm sick of pandering to those sworn to our destruction.
Posted by Always On Watch at October 30, 2005 06:07 AM
