We are all aware of the barbaric acts of ISIS, al Qaeda and the others flying the Black Flag. Sadly their violence continues to kill innocents around the world and here at home. They fight in the cause of Jihad to impose their totalitarian religion on all people. But they are not the only ones working toward that goal. There are other Islamist groups who seem much less dangerous on the surface, but actually represent an even more insidious threat to free western society. They seek to use our very freedoms as weapons against us.
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, a leading Saudi journalist and confidante of the royal family, wrote that US President Barack Obama’s recent visit had done nothing to mend the rift between America and the Saudis. In the wake of the Iran deal, Saudi Arabia has noticed that the US continues to pander to the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, Iran has done nothing but escalate its violations of the terms of the deal. Meanwhile, he pointed out, the Obama administration’s regional policies have led to chaos.
Since the signing of the deal with Iran, the White House failed to give the other camp security guarantees that would alleviate the dangers that the deal ushered in. Meanwhile, Iran has pursued its efforts to take over the region…. Obama’s hands-off approach has failed – it led to anarchy and to the rise of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
It is true that Obama’s precipitous withdrawal from Iraq led to the collapse of that country into civil war, and the rise of the Islamic State. It is also true that his failure to enforce his “red line” in Syria led to the massive refugee crisis, the resurgence of al Qaeda, and — combined with the Iran deal — a tightening of Iran’s grip on the Levant. His deal with Iran has been historically negative in its fallout.
However, Saudi Arabia is no innocent. With Iran, it leads the world in sharia-law brutality. A diplomatic cable signed by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton points out that “donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.” The Saudi government officially opposes terrorist groups, though its approach to captured terrorists is often quite genteel given that it frequently beheads people for such offenses as “sorcery.” The money that flows out of the state through Kuwait and other Sunni states provides the most significant contribution to terrorists such as al Qaeda.
More, the Saudis have proselytized fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam for centuries as a method of cementing the control of the monarchy over the tribes. The Saudi government has formally supported the spreading of Wahhabi ideology throughout the Islamic world. That sect of Islam is the one behind al Qaeda’s view of the world. That radical view prompted the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Speaking of that, there are important questions remaining about Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks. Saudi intelligence is deeply implicated, and 28 classified pages of the 9/11 report have still not been released to the American public.
Watching these two powers fall into an oil war with each other is not entirely displeasing. The truth is that neither power is reliable. They are enemies of each other, but that does not make either our friend.
In spite of a snowjob from Iranian sympathizers and the President of the United States, the Obama administration knows the deal is so bad that they did their best to keep the IAEA from reporting on it before the election.