GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF Saudis eliminate al-Qaida at home, fund abroad Analyst: West part of aim 'to spread jihad around the world' Saturday, September 25, 2004 U.S. officials say Saudi Arabia has eliminated al-Qaida leadership at home but continues to fund the terrorist network abroad, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. Officials said Saudi Arabia has captured or killed many al-Qaida leaders over the last three months. Saudi security forces, with support from U.S. intelligence and law enforcement, raided al-Qaida strongholds in Buraida, Mecca, Jeddah and Riyadh, they said. "Saudi Arabia is working hard to shut down the facilitators and financial supporters of terrorism, and they have captured or killed many first-tier leaders of the al-Qaida organization in Saudi Arabia," the White House said in a Sept. 11 statement. "Today, because Saudi Arabia has seen the danger and joined the war on terror, the American people are safer." The statement largely echoed an earlier assertion by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. In August, Abdullah said Saudi authorities had eliminated virtually the entire al-Qaida leadership and was searching for lower-level operatives. The Saudi effort has led to a sharp reduction in al-Qaida attacks against Westerners in the kingdom, officials said. Saudi authorities have bolstered their intelligence on the operations and infrastructure of the al-Qaida network. "Three years ago, terrorists were well-established in Saudi Arabia," the White House statement said. "Inside that country, fundraisers and other facilitators gave al-Qaida financial and logistical help with little scrutiny or opposition. Today, after attacks in Riyadh and elsewhere, the Saudi government knows that al-Qaida is its enemy." Saleh Al Awfi has been identified as the head of the al-Qaida network in Saudi Arabia. Al Awfi, a former Saudi prison officer, succeeded Abdul Aziz Al Muqrin who was killed by Saudi security forces in Riyadh June 18. Officials said Al Awfi lacks Al Muqrin's operational experience. The result has been a drop in the capability of al-Qaida cells. Spreading jihad But U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia has failed to stop financing to al-Qaida. Despite U.S. appeals, Saudi charities continue to relay funds to al-Qaida abroad, particularly in financing Arab operatives in Africa and Chechnya. In September, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the U.S. and Comoros branches of the Al Haramain Foundation, a state-sponsored Saudi charity, as financiers of terrorism. The department also designated a director of Al Haramain in the United States, Suliman Al Buthe, as a financier and facilitator of terrorism. So far, more than a dozen branches of Al Haramain have been listed as facilitators of terrorism. These include the former director of the foundation, Aqeel Abdul Aziz Al Aqil. Al Haramain has dismissed the U.S. designations. Officials said the latest designation came after more than two years of cooperation between U.S. and Saudi officials investigating Al Haramain's financial activities. The FBI and other federal agencies have also investigated Al Haramain branches in the United States. "The investigation shows direct links between the U.S. branch and Osama Bin Laden," the Treasury Department said. "In addition, the affidavit alleges the U.S. branch of AHF criminally violated tax laws and engaged in other money-laundering offenses." In June 2004, the Saudi government announced it was dissolving Al Haramain and other Saudi charities that operate abroad and would fold their assets into a new Saudi National Commission for Relief and Charity Work Abroad. U.S. officials said Al Haramain continues to operate abroad, despite Riyadh's action. At a conference last week by the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel, analysts said Saudi Arabia has maintained funding to ensure the spread of al-Qaida-inspired ideology abroad even as authorities fight the movement within the kingdom. "The Saudis have been jolted by the al-Qaida threat," said Dore Gold, a senior Israeli government consultant and president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. "At the same time, they are ideologically committed to supporting jihad externally." Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, presented documents that told of Saudi support to the Palestinian movement, Hamas, as late as May 2003. The payment was made through the kingdom-sponsored charity, International Islamic Relief Organization. Other analysts addressing the three-day conference supported Gold's assertion. They said Saudi Arabia has become the leading financier of the so-called jihad ideology in the West and in Russia. Sergey Kurginyan, director of the Moscow-based International Foundation for Experimental Creativity, said Saudi Arabia has become the leading financier of the Sunni insurgency in neighboring Iraq. Kurginyan said Riyadh could soon become a target of the United States. "If [President George] Bush wins the election he will probably hit the source of the Iraqi insurgency, probably Saudi Arabia," Kurginyan said. Yehudit Barsky, an analyst with the American Jewish Committee, cited U.S. reports that Riyadh has pumped $70 billion in the propagation of Wahabi ideology around the world since the 1970s. Barsky said the Saudi goal was to bolster radical Muslims in their effort to turn the West into part of the Islamic world. "In a certain sense, the West has become part of the global jihad, to spread jihad around the world," she said. ==================== The Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005 Congress tries to hold the Saudis accountable. by Stephen Schwartz June 8, 2005 ON TUESDAY, June 7, Sen. Arlen Specter took an action that may substantially improve the difficult--some might say despicable--state of U.S.-Saudi relations. Specter dropped the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005 into the hopper; the text was designated Senate bill 1171. Its cosponsors, so far, are Sens. Evan Bayh, Susan Collins, Tim Johnson, Patty Murray, Russ Feingold, and Ron Wyden. The legislation is concise. The bill's text stands as an indictment of Saudi Arabia, since it is mainly an inventory of evidence against the kingdom and the role of its rulers in enabling terrorism. S. 1171 summons the rulers of the Saudi kingdom to comply with United Nations resolution 1373, calling on states to refrain from supporting terrorism, to combat terrorism, and to deny safe haven to financiers and planners of terrorism. As the home of Wahhabism, the state cult and Islamist ideology underpinning al Qaeda and its allies, Saudi territory is a rich field of targets for serious counter-terrorism. S. 1171 points out that the Council of Foreign Relations concluded almost three years ago that Saudi Arabia is the main source of al Qaeda backing and that Saudi officials have refused to take serious action to end it. A year ago the CFR emphasized, in language incorporated in the bill, that not a single Saudi funder of terrorism has been arrested, tried, or otherwise "publicly punished." The new bill goes on to cite reports critical of Saudi behavior, issued by the U.S. 9/11 Commission, Freedom House, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. It references the 2003 Senate testimony on Wahhabism in which David Aufhauser, then general counsel of the Treasury Department, called the Saudi state the "epicenter" of global terror financing. It also notes that the Saudis have subsidized half the annual budget of Hamas, the deadly terror gang in Israel, as part of a $4 billion outlay to Palestinian extremists since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000. Above all, the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act focuses on the Saudis' lack of effective commitment to U.S. efforts against terror. Saudi foot-dragging in investigating al Qaeda recalls Saudi obstruction of U.S. inquiries into the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, in which 19 American service personnel died. The Saudis have further prevented our officials from interviewing terrorist suspects in their custody, including a Saudi subject knowledgeable about plans to inject poison gas into the New York City subways. But failure to combat terrorism is only part of Saudi mischief. S. 1171 goes on to condemn the indoctrination in hatred pursued by Saudi-funded Wahhabis in mosques and schools on U.S. soil, as well by clerics on the kingdom's official payroll. The bill has already been introduced into the House of Representatives as H.R. 2037, with the backing of 24 representatives, from Republican Dan Burton of Indiana to Democrat Henry Waxman of California. If it passes, it will express a congressional consensus that Saudi authorities must immediately cooperate in a complete and unrestricted manner with the U.S. government in the fight against terror, and permanently close all charities, schools, and other organizations or institutions that support terrorism, whether inside Saudi territory or abroad. The latter provision would include cutting off payments to the families of suicide bombers in Israel. IN CASE THE SAUDIS don't get the message this time, the bill provides for sanctions, including a bar on exporting special military technology to the kingdom and restriction on travel by Saudi diplomats outside a 25-mile radius from their embassy and consulates in Washington, New York, Houston, and Los Angeles. Certification of Saudi compliance would rest with President Bush. The combined House-Senate effort to make the Saudis behave like a normal and respectable country comes late, but remains urgent. Three and a half years have passed since September 11, 2001; 15 of the 19 terrorist pilots on that day were Saudis. Saudi clerics continue to incite their followers to go to Iraq to kill Shia Muslims, non-Wahhabi Sunnis, and the forces of the new Iraqi government (as well as those in the ranks of the U.S.-led coalition). The day the bill was dropped in the Senate hopper, a Saudi subject, Fahd Nouman Suweilem al-Faqihi, stood trial in Jordan for an attempted bombing at the border of that country and Iraq. Last week the State Department named the Saudi kingdom and three other Gulf states as the worst offenders against international laws against human trafficking. And the suppression of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish, as well as non-Wahhabi Muslim worshippers inside the kingdom, goes on. Stephen Schwartz is a frequent contributor to The Weekly Standard ==================== Flow of Saudis' Cash to Hamas Is Scrutinized By DON VAN NATTA Jr. with TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN THE NEW YORK TIMES September17, 2003 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 16 - Nearly a year ago, Khalid Mishaal, a senior leader of Hamas, the militant Palestinian organization, attended a charitable fund-raising conference here where he talked at length with Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto Saudi ruler. According to a summary of the meeting written by a Hamas official, Mr. Mishaal and other Hamas representatives thanked their Saudi hosts for continuing "to send aid to the people through the civilian and popular channels, despite all the American pressures exerted on them." "This is indeed a brave posture deserving appreciation," the Hamas officials said, the document said. Today Mr. Mishaal, who was recently added to the United States Treasury Department list of what it calls terrorist financiers, controls a wing of Hamas that advocates violent confrontation with Israel, including suicide bombings. As relations between the Israelis and Palestinians continue to deteriorate, in no small part because of recent Hamas-sponsored suicide bombings, Saudis have come under fresh scrutiny by American and European investigators ... for their political and financial support of the group. At least 50 percent of Hamas's current operating budget of about $10 million a year comes from people in Saudi Arabia, according to estimates by American law enforcement officials, American diplomats in the Middle East and Israeli officials. After the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Saudi portion of Hamas financing grew larger as donations from the United States, Europe and other Persian Gulf countries dried up, American officials and analysts said. ...Nearly all the donations are given in cash, making it extremely difficult for ...authorities to track the money. "It's a ridiculous accusation; no Saudi government money goes to Hamas, directly or indirectly," said Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign affairs adviser to Prince Abdullah. "Why on earth would we not stop this kind of funding? Why on earth would our crown prince say we do not want to support Hamas and then allow people to do this under the table?" . . . Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, has denied that his government has financially supported Hamas or charities that serve as front organizations for Hamas. ... . . . The document that outlined Mr. Mishaal's visit with the Saudis, in October 2002, was seized by the Israeli military during a raid in Gaza last December, and a copy was recently given to The New York Times by a former Israeli official. The summary is written in Arabic on paper with a Hamas letterhead and was translated into English by the Israeli military. Four senior American law enforcement and diplomatic officials who reviewed the document did not dispute its authenticity, but declined to discuss its contents. A Saudi official who was provided the document in Arabic and in English said it did not prove the Saudi government had contributed to Hamas, and he strongly criticized its contents as conveying a distorted view of the events. [The Internationaal Herald Tribune version of this story included the statement:"A Saudi official ... did not dispute its (the document's) authenticity".] "This document is trash," the official said. "If the purpose of the document is to prove Saudi funding for Hamas, it fails miserably. There is nothing in it except the views and perceptions of Hamas members who attended this conference. The Israelis have made a big fuss about this document ... ." Several Saudi officials acknowledged that wealthy Saudi citizens have made sizable cash donations to Hamas. But they said the government is working to curb such contributions. Saudi leaders ... say they have done much to stem the flow of donations to charities linked to terrorism. They have barred Saudi charities from sending money out of the country and have prohibited individuals from making anonymous wire transfers of cash. A senior Treasury Department counter- terrorism official said Bush administration officials had repeatedly raised their concerns about Hamas financing with Saudi leaders. ... Some terrorism and political analysts say Hamas is divided into two wings: one carries on social work, like hospitals and schools; a military wing engages in armed attacks and suicide bombings against civilians. Other analysts say there is no longer a clear distinction between Hamas's social and military operations. Members of Hamas, Al Qaeda and Islamic Jihad often work within one another's organizations .... . Earlier this month...the European Union placed the political wing of Hamas on its blacklist of terrorist organizations... . In the Hamas document, drafted last November before the war with Iraq had begun, Hamas officials concluded that "among many echelons in Saudi Arabia, there is clear, tangible and conspicuous mistrust of the United States, particularly in view of its succumbing to the influence and incitement of the Zionist lobby." "They consider the expected American attack on Iraq as only the first step, which will have ramifications for everyone, especially for Saudi Arabia," the document added. A senior American diplomat in the Middle East pointed out that wealthy Saudis contribute at least 2 percent of their annual income to charitable causes, and that charities that assist hospitals, schools and orphanages in Gaza and the West Bank are flooded with donations from Saudi citizens. Names of charities often change, and it sometimes takes years to determine whether a charity is a front for Hamas, the official said. "It is considered rude in the kingdom to inquire about the motives behind a charity, and so Saudis don't do it," the official added. The conference that Mr. Mishaal attended last year was held by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, a Saudi charitable organization based here. The charity's American branch was incorporated in Virginia in 1992 by Abdullah bin Laden, a relative of Osama bin Laden. Members of the Saudi royal family have contributed large sums to the charity, which has publicly stated that one of its educational goals is to "arm the Muslim youth with full confidence in the supremacy of the Islamic system over other systems." . . . According to the Israeli military, Hamas's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in a speech last month in Gaza, thanked the World Assembly and another Saudi charity for their continued financial support. ... Saleh Sulaiman al-Wohaibi, the secretary general of the World Assembly, has adamantly denied that his charity provides contributions to terrorist organizations. ABOUT HALF OF HAMAS FUNDS COME FROM GCC STATES WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has assessed that about half of the estimated $50 million budget for Hamas comes from Gulf Cooperation Council states. U.S. officials said most of Hamas' foreign sources of funding stem from Saudi Arabia. They said Hamas has raised more than $50 million a year, including funds obtained from criminal activities in the United States. "Some sources estimate that as much as half of Hamas' income is derived from money raised in the Persian Gulf, including the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Treasury Department general counsel David Aufhauser said, "notwithstanding a May 2002 decree by Crown Prince Abdullah that ceased official Saudi support for the group." Aufhauser, who heads the U.S. effort to end financing to Islamic insurgency groups, testified on Wednesday to the House Financial Services subcommittee. The focus of the hearing was the campaign by Washington to end funding to Hamas. September 25, 2003 ==================== Charity Said to Have Paid Terrorists Is Under Investigation by the Saudis Timothy L. O'Brien (New York Times) David Aufhauser, the Treasury Department's general counsel, disclosed during testimony Thursday before the Senate Banking Committee that Ageel al-Ageel, the founder of Al Haramain Charitable Foundation - a Saudi charity that has been accused by Western officials of sponsoring terrorism - is the subject of a criminal investigation by Saudi Arabia. Another person with direct knowledge of the investigation said the Saudis were also investigating several other directors of Al Haramain. American intelligence and law enforcement officials recently gave Saudi officials a detailed document outlining terrorism links to another major Saudi charity, the International Islamic Relief Organization. American officials have asked that the Saudi government close all of that group's overseas offices and that members of the Saudi royal family step down from its board. Aufhauser also criticized the British government for failing to take strong action against a British charity, the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, even after American officials provided the British with definitive proof that it was financing the violent Palestinian group Hamas. September 26, 2003 See also Saudi Arabia's Dubious Denials of Involvement in International Terrorism - Dore Gold (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) ==================== Is Riyadh or is Riyadh not going to tighten the noose around the terror financiers among the Saudi elite? By Matthew Levitt, senior fello in terrorism studies The Washington Institute for Near East Policy Weekly Standard, February 2, 2004 Since June, intermittent reports have suggested Riyadh was on the verge of taking firm action against terror financiers among the Saudi elite. After a series of unexplained delays, a U.S. delegation visiting the Saudi capital in December finally secured Saudi agreement to shut the offices of the al Haramain Foundation in Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Pakistan, and take action against senior al Haramain officials in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, the Saudis were expected to announce criminal proceedings against the foundation's recently fired director of 13 years, Sheikh Aqel al Aqel, who according to well-informed sources was caught transporting millions of dollars out of the country via couriers. This week, when the much anticipated press conference was finally held, the closure of a few more al Haramain branches proved anticlimactic in the glaring absence of any action against al Aqel or any of the other prominent Saudis bankrolling terror. Officials had reason to hope for more. Despite recent United Nations and U.S. General Accounting Office reports highlighting the difficulty of combating terror financing, and the central role Saudi Arabia plays in this continuing problem, the Saudis had made significant, if limited, progress in the war on terror in the wake of al Qaeda attacks in Riyadh in May and November 2003. Moreover, the agreement to make an example of al Aqel had reportedly been reached with Crown Prince Abdullah himself, which suggests that Interior Minister Prince Nayef and/or other senior princes vying for power may have played a role in derailing action against al Aqel. Despite continued resistance from some Saudi officials and most religious authorities, U.S. officials note a "consolidation" around Crown Prince Abdullah's reformist agenda since the November attacks. Saudi authorities have arrested hundreds of terrorist operatives, begun educational reforms, removed collection boxes from mosques, arrested radical clerics, and pulled others from their pulpits. In the United States, Saudi diplomats have waived their diplomatic immunity and provided authorities investigating financial irregularities full access to their financial accounts. And a joint U.S.-Saudi task force, set up in the wake of the November attacks, was described by a senior U.S. official as "totally cooperative" (though the same official conceded that the Americans had requested only low-level information and were wary of issuing requests that might not be answered). Another positive development is that the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering has been allowed to conduct a review process in Saudi Arabia, which should be completed in late January or early February. Nonetheless, problems persist. For example, while the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) passed impressive money laundering and terrorist financing regulations in May, these have yet to be enforced. U.S. officials praise the agency's capabilities. Unfortunately, SAMA remains unempowered. In fact, many terrorist-financing responsibilities are assigned to other ministries and agencies, not SAMA. Saudi Arabia also still lacks a financial intelligence unit. Eighty-four such units are operating worldwide, including the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. According to U.S. and European officials, the Saudi unit exists on paper but is not yet functioning. Even on paper, it is slated to operate under the Ministry of the Interior, headed by Prince Nayef and known to be intimately tied to the royal family, not under the more independent and professional SAMA. After the May bombings, the Saudis announced the establishment of the Saudi High Commission for Charities. This would be a step forward, as there are currently many ministries and agencies that have a hand in dealing with terror financing within the kingdom. However, several official and academic inquiries produced no evidence the commission actually exists. Institution building aside, Saudi officials have yet to reeducate their society regarding the fact that a charity supported in fulfillment of a religious duty can be used for nefarious purposes. Nor has there been any effort to instill a sense of personal responsibility concerning where charitable donations end up. Overall, Saudi efforts to combat terror financing are still hindered by a lack of both transparency and political will. For example, proposed budgets and staffing numbers for the announced Saudi financial intelligence unit and High Commission for Charities are unavailable. For that matter, Article 25 of the 1981 Charitable Organizations Charter, the law that would theoretically regulate how charities are run and overseen, explicitly excludes all charities associated with the royal family--that is, almost all Saudi charities. It remains to be seen whether any of the thousands of princes or the charities with which they are associated could be held accountable for terror financing under Saudi law. While the May 2003 money laundering restrictions are among the most comprehensive, authorities lack the means to enforce them. U.S. officials' priority, then, is to get the Saudis to do what they've already promised to do. The Washington Post has reported, for example, that the Islamic Affairs Bureaus in Saudi embassies worldwide were going to be closed after several investigations tied these bureaus to terrorism. Jaafar Idris, a Sudanese national who held Saudi diplomatic credentials and was affiliated with the Islamic Affairs Bureau in Washington, was recently expelled from the United States, and German authorities tied the Islamic Affairs Bureau in Berlin to terrorist financing. An unidentified Saudi official was quoted in the Post as saying, "We are going to shut down the Islamic Affairs section in every embassy." Meanwhile, the Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi minister for Islamic affairs Sheikh Salah Al Sheikh as insisting, "This news item is incorrect. The centers are working and they are a part of the kingdom's message." In a similar case, even as Saudi officials were negotiating the closure of the four al Haramain branches shut this week, a Saudi official insisted that "al Haramain cannot spend a penny outside Saudi Arabia." Then, apparently contradicting himself, he added, "If Indonesia thinks that al Haramain is active there, then Indonesians must take action and not us the Saudis." The crucial test of Saudi efforts to curb terror financing is the willingness to hold elites accountable. Will the Saudis crack down on the terror financing conducted by prominent members of their business class, elites tied to the royal family, charities, and banks? As early as June 2003, U.S. officials indicated the Saudis were about to take concrete action against members of the Jedda merchant class closely tied to members of the royal family, at least one Saudi Bank, and foundations like al Haramain. U.S. officials hoped the early January firing of al Aqel would herald further actions targeting Saudi elites involved in promoting radical Islam and funding terrorism. They were disappointed. Beyond al Aqel, U.S. officials point to the al Raji Bank, with its affiliated organizations, individuals, and charities, as an example of a Saudi institution implicated in criminal terrorist investigations, yet not subject to scrutiny by the Saudi authorities. Similarly, though Crown Prince Abdullah officially withdrew the kingdom's support for Hamas in early 2002, special accounts called "Accounts 98," which the government created to funnel money to Palestinian organizations, continue to function and fund groups like Hamas. In fact, ten months after the crown prince withdrew his support for Hamas, the group's leader, Khaled Mishal, was an honored guest in Saudi Arabia at the annual conference of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. Finally, U.N. and U.S. officials both note that Wael Jalaidan, an al Qaeda founder and "designated terrorist entity," still works with suspicious charities and handles large sums of money. There have been no arrests of prominent Saudis or closures of financial institutions in the kingdom. Very few accounts have been frozen, and the Jalaidan case suggests those few have been frozen in name only. In short, evidence that Riyadh is serious about drying up the funding for terror remains thin indeed. Matthew A. Levitt is senior fellow in terrorism Studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.