Saturday, October 20, 2007

Bush certifies Saudi Arabia as 'war on terror' ally

WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush certified Saudi Arabia as an anti-terrorism ally on Friday, weeks after a top US Treasury official sharply criticized the kingdom's record.

Comment: What does this cost us? Is no one else curious with the timing of this announcement? What authority are we willing to give the Saudis, funders of terrorism, society of intolerance towards women, people of other faiths and financiers of anti-Israel and anti-American values.Bush's move came in a memorandum to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, required under US law to free up aid from Washington to Riyadh, that the White House released to reporters.
"I hereby certify that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the proposed assistance will help facilitate that effort," the president said.

In September, Stuart Levey, charged that Saudi Arabia has failed to prosecute the bankrollers of terror groups.

Levey, the undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, told the US network ABC that not a single individual identified by the United States or the United Nations as a terror financier had been prosecuted by Saudi Arabia.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

"If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia," Levey told the ABC one day. "When the evidence is clear that these individuals have funded terror organizations ... then that should be prosecuted and treated as real terrorism because it is."

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal dismissed the criticism, saying Levey's public rebuke was at odds with private praise from US officials. - AFP

No comments: