Surprise: Saudi citizens sending millions to Iraqi jihadis
Allahpundit
It’s their religious duty.
Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in
Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash…
The Saudi government denies it. We need to be careful with the sources here, and not just because it’s the AP. Odds are the Iraqi officials are Shiites, which gives them a motive to want to point the finger at Iran’s enemy. The detail about anti-aircraft missiles is noteworthy too coming a week after an Air Force jet crashed near Baghdad. If you wanted to stir up anti-Saudi sentiment among Americans, putting the receipt for the missiles that took that plane down (if it was missiles that took it down) in their hands would do the trick.
Any corroborating evidence? Yup — although it’s of the Jamilgate variety:
Several drivers interviewed by the AP in Middle East capitals said Saudis have been using religious events, like the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and a smaller pilgrimage, as cover for illicit money transfers. Some money, they said, is carried into Iraq on buses with returning pilgrims. ...
Saudis reportedly funding Iraqi Sunnis
CAIRO, Egypt - Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.
Saudi government officials deny that any money from their country is being sent to Iraqis fighting the government and the U.S.-led coalition.
But the U.S. Iraq Study Group report said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents. Several truck drivers interviewed by The Associated Press described carrying boxes of cash from Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.
Two high-ranking Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, told the AP most of the Saudi money comes from private donations, called zaqat, collected for Islamic causes and charities.
Some Saudis appear to know the money is headed to Iraq's insurgents, but others merely give it to clerics who channel it to anti-coalition forces, the officials said. ...
