On September 11, 2001, 15 young men from Saudi Arabia, two citizens of the United Arab Emirates and a man from Lebanon under the immediate supervision of an Egyptian attacked the United States. Let that number sink in. Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 attackers were from Saudi Arabia. Of course, Osama Bin Laden comes from a wealthy Saudi family.
This morning the LA Times is reporting that
About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.It would seem the face of the foreign enemy in both the War on Terror and the War in Iraq is predominately Saudi.
Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. It is apparently the first time a U.S. official has given such a breakdown on the role played by Saudi nationals in Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency.
He said 50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come here as suicide bombers. In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.
I could snark and remind everybody what President Bush said to Congress on September 20, 2001 -- "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Since they seem to be supplying the bulk of the terrorists, I wonder why we don't invade Saudi Arabia. At the very least why don't we ask the Saudis to keep their young crazies home?
Of course, the House of Saud is probably happy Wahhabi clerics are sending their young Saudi crazies straight from Saudi madrassas to die in Iraq. Three years ago William Dalrymple noted in the Guardian that the House of Saud is the source of nearly all the money funding the Wahhabi movement and the madrassas they finance provide many of the fanatical disciples of hate at the core of militant Islam. The House of Saud doesn't want to keep all those puritanical young revolutionaries at home. They need to be exported to their doom as soon as possible after graduation. Otherwise, they might turn all their attention to the decadent ways of the corrupt family running the country.
Judging from the L.A. Times article it would seem that the Iraqi war is the central front in the war to keep the House of Saud in power.
