The United States is in mortal peril from a false friend: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  The peril emanates from the totalitarian legal-religious-military-political code the Saudis call Shariah and their assiduous efforts to impose it worldwide.  The danger is enormously exacerbated by the almost-complete failure of American officials at every level of government to acknowledge, let alone act to prevent, the Saudis’ true agenda.

            Three examples are instructive:

*         A recent expose by New York Times reporter Philip Shenon of congressional and independent investigations of the murderous September 11, 2001 attacks describes evidence of financial, logistical and other material support by Saudi government personnel to the perpetrators of those acts of terrorism.  In The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, Shenon suggests that the Bush White House, the FBI and, not least, Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar went to considerable lengths to suppress such evidence. 

            In the end, what is known is principally circumstantial – notably, a seeming Saudi covert operative in Southern California housed and facilitated the movements of two of the 9/11 hijackers, was in frequent communication with a Wahhabi cleric working in the U.S. under Saudi diplomatic cover and received before the attacks funds drawn on an account Bandar’s wife used to support “charities.” It nonetheless seems reasonable to conclude that, had these leads been scrupulously pursued rather than covered up, we would have a far better appreciation of the enmity felt towards this country by all too many of our so-called Saudi “friends” and “allies.”

            What is more, in a lawsuit brought by the insurance companies who paid out over $5 billion dollars to the victims of the 9/11 attacks, lawyers from the Philadelphia-based firm of Cozen O’Connor are uncovering details of Saudi government involvement in financing “foreign” jihad to keep it out of the Kingdom. Not surprisingly, they have uncovered connections missed by the 9/11 Commission.

*         That enmity can unmistakably be found, however, in textbooks the government of Saudi Arabia supplies religious schools (known as “madrassas”) around the world, including the Islamic Saudi Academy it operates in Alexandria, Virginia.  Last week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) revealed that these texts encourage children to regard non-Muslims and even other Muslims with hostility and hatred and suggests that it is permissible to take “their blood and treasure.”  Jihad is described as “the pinnacle of Islam,” without clarifying the term’s meaning to be just a struggle of the spirit – rather than its typical interpretation: holy war. 

            Importantly, the USCIRF found itself thwarted at every turn by the U.S. Department of State.  Foggy Bottom endlessly ran interference for the Saudis: State blithely assured the Commission that Saudi Arabia had promised to rewrite its teaching materials so as to eliminate offensive passages.  It half-heartedly pressed Riyadh for copies of the textbooks actually used at the Academy, then withheld from the USCIRF the books it did receive. 

            The proof now in hand, no thanks to the State Department, makes clear the virulently intolerant nature of what the Saudis insist is the authoritative form of Islamic law or Shariah.  It should be sufficient grounds for acting on an earlier recommendation by the Commission on International Religious Freedom: Close the Saudi embassy-run madrassa in our midst, once and for all.  Continued...