Progress in — brace yourself — Saudi Arabia in the Terror War:
The Saudi government yesterday outlined plans to dismantle all international charity organizations operating in the kingdom and place their holdings under a new commission in what officials said is an effort to stop the flow of funds to terrorist groups.
The charities to be dissolved include the al Haramain Islamic Foundation, one of the largest and most influential Saudi charities, whose chairman is the Saudi minister of Islamic affairs.
At a joint news conference with Saudi officials, the U.S. Treasury Department also announced that it had designated the longtime chief of al Haramain as a financier of al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
As all us chickenhawks have known for a couple years at least, international Saudi “charitable” groups have long been a source of terrordollars. If the Saudis are serious about cracking down on those organizations (which remains to be seen), then that’s a victory on par with Libya’s decision late last year to dismantle its WMD programs.
If recent reports are true that al Qaeda’s new strategy is to target the economies of the West, by targeting the Saudi oil industry, then their attacks just might have backfired.
While I doubt the Haus of Sod will ever be a real partner in the Terror War, there’s a chance now that at least we’re both on the same side.
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