A word from Bret Stephens
Bret Stephens writes on the wisdom of sending advanced armaments to Saudi Arabia:
In 2003, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that al Qaeda had “tried to recruit Saudi Arabian Air Force pilots to carry out a suicide attack in Israel…using either F-15 jets or civilian aircraft.” Israel also has serious concerns about the extent of al Qaeda’s penetration of Saudi Arabia’s National Guard. A year ago, the Treasury Department named the director and two branches of the Saudi-based International Islamic Relief Organization “for facilitating fundraising for al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups.” The chairman of the IIRO is Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti and a member of the cabinet; Prince Sultan has also been a major donor…
Back in 2002, a Rand Corporation analyst named Laurent Murawiec gave a briefing to the Pentagon’s advisory Defense Policy Board, in which he described Saudi Arabia as the “kernel of evil…active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader.” Every word of that is true. Yet the administration walked a mile to distance itself from his remarks and Mr. Murawiec lost his job. Too bad. Had his advice been heeded then, we might not be trapped today by the weird logic of arming our false friends.
Little can change for the better over there until the school lessons of children change, Little can change for the better over here until the Establishment stops pretending.