(New York Post) Stephen Schwartz - American officials had criticized the Saudis for granting diplomatic status to those whose activities do not constitute legitimate diplomatic business. Of 24 Saudis ordered to leave the U.S., 16 were employees of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America (IIASA) in Fairfax, Va. IIASA is affiliated with a religious university in Riyadh, but it is funded by and serves as an arm of the embassy's Religious Affairs Department. Its board chairman is the Saudi ambassador to America, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. In November, the diplomatic visa of one Islamic cleric who lectured at IIASA, Jaafar Idris, was revoked after he was scheduled to appear at a Muslim conference in Houston. Another cleric, Sheikh Allamah Ibn Jibreen, was advertised to address the Houston gathering via satellite. On his Web site, linked to that of IIASA as a recommended source of Islamic teaching, Jibreen called on Saudis to go north of the Iraqi border to attack Coalition troops. Last month, the Senate Finance Committee said it would investigate 24 Islamic charities and other entities operating in the U.S. The target list includes the Muslim World League, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, and the International Islamic Relief Organization, all branches of the Saudi government. The Saudi rulers want us to believe they are our friends, and that terrorist rule is the only alternative to their rule. Yet they still subsidize the global Wahhabi offensive.
2004-02-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive