With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies

Compliments of our "friends" the Saudis and the "moderate" UAE.

From Jihad Watch:

Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and UAE giving $100 million yearly to jihad in Pakistan

"And where is that money coming from? From our gas pumps. And note here again the connection to Islamic charities. This should not surprise anyone: in Islam, funding jihad is a meritorious, charitable act.

"'Pakistani jihad networks funded by Saudi, UAE charities,'" from Reuters, May 22 (thanks to Tziona):


'Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in US ally Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage holy war, a Pakistani newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Wikileaks.
A US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to a jihadist recruitment network in Pakistan's Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported.

The November 2008 dispatch by Bryan Hunt, the then principal officer at the US consulate in Lahore, was based on discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during trips to Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province.

It said those sources claimed that financial aid from Saudi and United Arab Emirates was coming from "missionary" and "Islamic charitable" organizations ostensibly with the direct support of those countries' governments....

But militancy is deeply rooted in Pakistan. In order to eradicate it, analysts say, the government must improve economic conditions to prevent militants from recruiting young men disillusioned with the state.

The network in Punjab reportedly exploited worsening poverty to indoctrinate children and ultimately send them to training camps, said the cable.'


The idea that poverty causes terrorism has been refuted again and again, but unfortunately the fact that the connection is made in a cable like this only means that the solution will be to pour more money into Pakistan. Ironically, that money will also be used to fund jihad, not to fight against it.


'Saudi Arabia, home to the fundamentalist Wahhabi brand of Islam, is seen as funding some of Pakistan's hardline religious seminaries, or madrassas, which churn out young men eager for holy war, posing a threat to the stability of the region. "At these madrassas, children are denied contact with the outside world and taught sectarian extremism, hatred for non-Muslims, and anti-Western/anti-Pakistan government philosophy," said the cable.

It described how "families with multiple children" and "severe financial difficulties" were being exploited and recruited, Dawn reported.

"The path following recruitment depends upon the age of the child involved. Younger children (between 8 and 12) seem to be favored," said the cable.

Teachers in seminaries would assess the inclination of children "to engage in violence and acceptance of jihadi culture".

"The initial success of establishing madrassas and mosques in these areas led to subsequent annual "donations" to these same clerics, originating in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," the cable stated.'"


Hmmm, I wonder if this is the type of school Obama attended in Pakistan.