Our two faced friends: the Saudis, Qataris and other Gulf Arabs

David Cameron is the first world leader to acknowledge that the civilized world is engaged in “a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology,” a struggle that did not begin on 9-11 nor will end with the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

President Obama’s press secretary, Josh Ernst, has said that while the United States is not at war with ISIL the President is consulting with his national security advisors and reviewing his options in order to develop a strategy to contain the threat posed by this most recent addition to the long list of Islamic terrorist organizations. Addressing the current threats posed by ISIL, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Nusra, Boko Haram, Abu Sayyaf, Abu Nidal, al-Aqsa, Al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sharia, Islamic Jihad, the Taliban or any of the multitude of other Islamic terrorist organizations is like applying an ice pack and giving aspirin to reduce the temperature of a feverish patient. This provides temporary relief by alleviating the symptoms, but does nothing to cure the disease. The “poisonous and extremist ideology” that Cameron spoke out against has been spread and is still being spread by the Saudis, Qataris and other Gulf Arabs. The Qataris and other Gulf Arabs are the primary financial supporters of Islamic terrorist organizations, which is why the President’s decision to turn five Taliban commanders over to the Emir of Qatar for safe keeping would be laughable if it were not so sad. The Saudis fund a large number of Mosques and Islamic schools, and Saudi textbooks are distributed free of charge worldwide. The Saudi Ministry of Education claims that it has been trying since 2007 to remove objectionable content from its textbooks, but clearly it hasn’t been trying too hard. According to the US Department of State’s latest International Religious Freedom Report revised textbooks for grades 1-9 still include “justification for the social exclusion and killing of Islamic minorities and ‘apostates;’ claims that Jews, Christians, and Islamic minorities do not properly adhere to monotheism; and intolerant allusions to Shia and Sufi Muslims and other religious groups.”

---

Textbooks for grades 10, 11 and 12 have not been revised. According to the Report these retain “inflammatory and anti-Semitic material. For example, the textbooks stated apostates from Islam should be killed… and described Islamic minorities and Christians as heretics.” Passages likening Jews to apes and Christians to swine continue to be included. “The textbooks also stated treachery was a ‘permanent characteristic’ of non-Muslims, especially Jews, propagated conspiracy theories that international organizations such as Masons support Zionism, and presented historical forgeries, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as fact.” The Teacher’s Manual for grade 10 contains the following instructions:

• Cite a selective teaching of violence against Jews, while in the same lesson, ignoring the passages of the Quran…that counsel tolerance.
• Discuss Jews in violent terms, blaming them for virtually all the subversion and wars of the modern world.
• Give examples of false religions, like Judaism, Christianity, paganism, etc.
• Explain that when someone dies outside of Islam, hellfire is his fate.

Suddenly fearful that ISIL may overrun Iraq and then turn its sights on the Kingdom, the Saudi’s are urging the US to use its overwhelming military power to destroy a potential enemy that their, Qatari and other Gulf Arab actions and money have spawned. Because there is a potential bulls-eye on his back, only now has King Abdullah asked Muslim clerics to condemn extremism, and he and Crown Prince Salman have quoted the verse in the Quran that states “there is no compulsion in religion.” While this apparent about face is welcome, it has not been followed by actions such as cutting off funding to terrorist organizations and to the clerics, mosques and schools that serve as the recruitment centers for terrorist groups, recalling textbooks pending their revision to remove hateful and intolerant passages, retraining clerics in the need to teach and preach Islamic values of tolerance, reexamining and reinterpreting sacred texts, condemning barbaric practices such as flogging, stoning and beheading, granting equal rights to women and calling for an end to so called honor killings and the often inhumane treatment of women in the Islamic world. The Saudis, Qataris and other Gulf Arabs speak out of both sides of their mouths. Until they stop funding and propagating the “poisonous and extremist ideology” that Cameron spoke about there is no hope of ever ending much less winning the “generational struggle” that we are engaged in. To stop them would require concerted action beginning by threatening the imposition of economic sanctions at least as harsh as those that were imposed on Iran, and following through with the imposition of those sanctions should they fail to change their destructive behavior and take the actions listed in the prior paragraph. Sadly, the US and its allies have no appetite for such direct action, so the spawning of terrorism by our two faced Arab friends will continue unabated. History shows that nations that uphold the rights of their people -- including the freedom of religion -- are ultimately more just and more peaceful and more successful. Nations that do not uphold these rights sow the bitter seeds of instability and violence and extremism.-- President Barack Obama