Money-for-terror

When Barack Obama visited Riyadh shortly after being elected as the new US president, he was full of praise for the Saudi royal house. He spoke of the two countries as both economic and strategic partners, and of King Abdullah's "wisdom and graciousness."

According to a document published by Wikileaks, however, Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to a far less flattering view of the Gulf state in the same year.

In the cable, she lamented the "ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist funds emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority." And she said that "donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide."

Two-faced ally

The contradictory nature of Obama and Clinton's comments is typical for the complex relationship of the two countries. On the one hand Washington values the Gulf kingdom, which is the most important supplier of oil to the US and Middle East, as a strategic counterpoint to Iran's growing influence, and a willing contributor in the search for diplomatic solutions to regional conflicts.

Yet on the other hand, Saudi Arabia does not meet US standards on human rights, religious and press freedom, and gender equality.

Life in Saudi Arabia is informed by the ruling state ideology of Wahhabism, which is one of the most radical forms of Islam, and reason enough for many experts to claim little surprise upon learning that the majority of the 9/11 terrorists were of Saudi origin.

Guido Steinberg, terrorism and Islamism expert with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin (SWP) told Deutsche Welle that although King Abdullah is trying to initiate reform, concurrence between the ideology of al-Qaeda and Wahhabism makes it difficult.

"Young Saudis repeatedly slip into the spectrum of extremism as a result of what they learn at Saudi Arabian schools and universities," Steinberg said, adding that the Saudi leadership is not willing to recognize the problem.

Case full of cash

The accusation of financing terrorism is a serious one, but ultimately it is impossible to prove whether Saudi Arabia and other rich Gulf states genuinely are al Qaeda's most generous donors.

Yassin Musharbash of Germany's Der Spiegel weekly news magazine believes couriers from Saudi Arabia regularly transport suitcases of cash to Afghanistan and Pakistan - cash that subsequently ends up in terrorist or training camps. He says no official Saudi authority is responsible for the transactions.

"We're talking about a highly visible network of charity organizations that are unaware they're being intentionally exploited," he said, adding that in order for the system to work, there must be individuals within the authorities who turn a blind eye.

"If you consider how much movement there is between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan just from the high number of migrant workers, it is almost impossible to follow the flow of money."

Financing history

Saudi Arabia has a tradition of financing military groups that dates back to the 1980s, when rich Gulf Arabs supported the fight of the mujahideen against occupying Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden played a key role in that fight.

Back then the mujahideen enjoyed official Saudi support, but Steinberg says all that changed after the 9/11 attacks, when the authorities closed semi-state organizations such as the "Al-Haramein-Foundation" because they were "indirectly financing terrorist or militant organizations."

It is not only pressure from the US that changed thinking in Saudi Arabia, but the fact that the country has become a target of attacks itself. Steinberg says there is no longer a way to prove even passive support, and that the official Saudi policy has become "altogether clearer."

But al Qaeda doesn't depend entirely upon the generosity of rich oil nations. It has long used the Internet and personal networks to collect donations from its supporters around the world. In addition, an affiliated terrorist group in North Africa has increasingly taken to demanding ransoms for abducted foreign citizens.

Author: Khalid El Kaoutit / tkw
Editors: Jennifer Abramsohn/Rob Mudge