What we’re hearing these days from our president and the Department of State regarding how to stem the flow of converts to Islamic extremism is very badly misinforming. Here’s the thrust: Community outreach programs to persuade U.S. residents to ignore extremist recruitment efforts; also, job-creation programs to place potential recruits into rewarding job positions.
Here, I’ll bust the second point. By all assessments, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a primary source of Sunni extremists. Interesting when you consider that Saudi Arabia has the world’s most vigorous economic diversification/industrial training/job-creation program in the world – funded by well over $13 billion. Any indigenous Arab in Saudi Arabia can obtain – free – an education, job training and a well-paying job. Interesting, too, that Saudi Aramco (the state oil company) is not the country’s biggest corporation. Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp. is.
Conclusion: Obama’s notions of job development to offset drift into Islamic extremist ideology has no basis. Also, it’s too narrowly conceived, overlooking (as it does) other factors that drive Sunni extremism. Among the most potent of these driving factors is the prevalence among Sunni Muslims of Wahabism. I’m of the opinion these days that so-called moderate Sunnis are on the edge of Wahabism and don’t need much of a push to go there all the way.
When it comes to Saudi Arabia, another factor is the funding of militant Sunni extremism on the part of the two-faced royal family. Watch this one, please. The lawsuit against the royal family by the families of the victims of Sept. 11 has been reinstated and is going forward like Jack the Bear. Right! There are more than 1,000 pages of evidence (including the redacted/classified section of the 9/11 commission report) implicating Saudi princes (among them the present king) in funding the Sept. 11 attacks and in continued funding of al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Being a militant Wahabist embedded in a western democracy can be lucrative.
Tom Wright
Aztec
