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Iraq

Saudis Reportedly Funding Iraqi Sunnis

2006-12-08

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.

Saudi government officials deny that any money from their country is being sent to Iraqis fighting the government and the U.S.-led coalition.

But the U.S. Iraq Study Group report said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents. Several truck drivers interviewed by The Associated Press described carrying boxes of cash from Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.

Posted by:.com

#15 Which is why Rantburg's protection of free speech shines like a beacon on the Internet.

Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-08 19:04

#14 But if you mention, suggest nuking Mecca on hotair.com you get thrown off.

Posted by: Icerigger 2006-12-08 16:30

#13 The only thing that ever works against aggressors is: disproportionate retaliation. And that is what we have to do, while blaming collateral casualties on the terrorists.

Too right, SS3550. So long as Islam is still referred to as "The Religion of Peace" [spit], nothing of the sort will happen. Politicians and generals must begin militating public opinion over to understanding that Islam, not terrorism, is the real threat, Until then, we are in a bloody and expensive holding pattern that will only get us even worse repeats of 9-11.

Each person killed by a terrorist atrocity needs to result in the death of a thousand or ten thousand Muslims. Only that sort of drastic toll will cause any uprising by the ummah against their terrorist masters. One need merely examine the Palestinians to see that they are unfazed by kill ratios of hundreds to one.

We must steadily increase the consequences of terrorism until the Muslim world begins to rebel against their leadership. There can be no hope of altering Islam's course until its own believers demand change from within. Should they be so foolish as not to, then they can all die in their refusal to reform.

Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-08 12:09

#12 "The missiles were purchased from someone in Romania, apparently through the black market, he said."

HmmmStrelas from Romania? Sounds like Bout might be playing both sides of the fence again.

Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-12-08 10:59

#11 These officials say zakat donations are now channeled through supervised bank accounts. Cash donation boxes, once prevalent in supermarkets and shopping malls, have been eliminated.

So, if I'm readin' this right, the group of 1,000 Princes is snuffing out "giving" competition. I assume they accept PayPal or something now?

On Nov. 27, a U.S. Air Force F-16 jet crashed while flying in support of American soldiers fighting Anbar province, a the Sunni insurgent hotbed.

There, fixed that for ya, AP!

But last week, a spokesman for Saddam's ousted Baath party claimed that fighters armed with a Strela missile had shot down the jet. "We have stockpiles of Strelas and we are going to surprise them (the Americans)," Khudair al-Murshidi, the spokesman told the AP in Damascus, Syria.

Ah, yes, quoting a guy who's not in the fight, much less in-country. Way to go, AP! I'm surprised they didn't just make him an "anonymous source, for fear of his life".

Posted by: BA 2006-12-08 10:37

#10 I can't disagree w/you EG. Especially from the early-70s on when drugs became prevalent. Hitting purely military sites is one thing, leaving a bomb that kills any innocent bystander walking by of any denomination or background is where they lost any sympathy I ever harbored. (Not to mention them getting into bed w/various marxist and arabic organizations.)

Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-12-08 10:10

#9 Denial is futile. Your future looks grim saud.

Posted by: closedanger@hotmail.com 2006-12-08 09:37

#8 Phil, heck, I'm from Detroit and the several Irish bars we had there (I'm of mick heritage and worked at one during my teenage years) would 'pass the hat for the cause.'

What the Americans never realised was alot of their money was used for drug deals etc as The IRA were gangsters more than freedom fighters!!!

Posted by: Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2006-12-08 09:25

#7 Sorry if this offends anyone, but a good first use of new US options is for US ground troops to withdraw temporarily to bases in Baghdad, while the USAF heavy-bombs Shiite sectors, if not their masters in Iran. The effect of same would be: Baghdad would come under Sunni control. Of course, that would leave al-Qaeda in Iraq in partial control. Solution: heavy bomb their areas until Sunni realists took control. Pacification of Baghdad would have a ripple effect accross the country.

Why is Baghdad in perpetual war? Sunni and Shiite terror centers are directing cadres against the other side, and US support forces. Unfortunately, 70% of Baghdad is mixed Sunni-Shiite. As a forthright US Sergeant in the Iraq theater was widely quoted yesterday, "One sectarian group has to control the other."

Can al-Sadr's "Mahdi Army" be annihilated? Most of his support is in North Baghdad ("Sadr City") and in a strip north of US controlled Baghdad Airport. Unfortunately, Sunni concentrations are between the 2 Shiite strips, and north of Baghdad University. Carpet bombing Shiite positions would result in negation of Shiite power. Shiite pockets elsewhere would have to accept Sunni pacification.

Democratic initiatives didn't work in Iraq; Diplomatic efforts will fare even worse. Only a Military solution, backed by permanent US bases in Iraq, will work.

The only thing that ever works against aggressors is: disproportionate retaliation. And that is what we have to do, while blaming collateral casualties on the terrorists. Before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fire bombing of Tokyo by US forces caused 200,000 painful civilian deaths in 1 night. Historical revisionism and suicidal multi-culturalism have deadened our will to slaugther; we have to re-invigorate our resolve to kill the enemy by any means necessary. America's enemy #1 is: the Ayatollahs of Iran, Iraq (al-Sistani was born in Iran), Syria and lebanon. As the President said, "The Iraq operation is not going well." It is broke. Let's fix it in memory of the 3000 innocents murdered by Islamofascists on 9-11. The time for talking and nation building is over; it is time to kill.

Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 2006-12-08 09:15

#6 I'd like to help fund both sides and get the pay-per-view rights when we leave Iraq.

Oh if only I had had zees "pay-per-view"...

Posted by: Richelieu 2006-12-08 09:08

#5 I'd like to help fund both sides and get the pay-per-view rights when we leave Iraq.

Posted by: RD 2006-12-08 08:15

#4 Yep, this is a big no shitter.

Phil, heck, I'm from Detroit and the several Irish bars we had there (I'm of mick heritage and worked at one during my teenage years) would 'pass the hat for the cause.'

Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-12-08 07:59

#3 Ther donation boxes were everywhere in Saudi when I was there - I left in 2003. In every store, at the checkout stand, in the lobby of the Tower Bldg at Aramco... employees could even donate through payroll deductions. And we got emails from Aramco Mgmt "requesting" employees donate, too. There was one hell of a serious money-flow.

Now they claim that's all stopped... Yewbetcha.

Posted by: .com 2006-12-08 02:20

#2 Who to believe?

Whoever's lips aren't moving.

Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-08 02:16

#1 Terrorism is a business and needs revenue streams to survive. Donations have long been one source of revenue, at least as far back as the donation boxes in Boston and NY bars for the 'boys'.

Posted by: phil_b 2006-12-08 02:13

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