CIA: Saudis still sending tens of millions to Al Qaida

The CIA has traced transfers of tens of millions of dollars from the Saudis to Al Qaida over the last year, U.S. officials and congressional sources said.

www.worldtribune.com...

Ah-ha! We misunderstood all along.

Islam is a religion of gold pieces, not peace. Must be the wax in our western ears.

A perplexing issue, Thomas -let us leave aside the 10's of millions of dollars the CIA has passed on to terrorists in its time, or the fact that the last undisputed sighting of UbL remains his time as a convalescent guest of the CIA in Dubai.

Officially, the US has been very, very accommodating to the Saudis- one recalls the visit to GBW not long ago, and countless assertion of solidarity; while "unofficially" the anti-Saudi "leaks" have multiplied.
They have the oil and are the centre of Islam -not bad reasons for at least a temporary "alliance"; but I can't see the mileage in the anti-Saudi line. It's hardly a revelation that Saudis -in a private capacity at least -have funded the "other side" - or that the Saudi regime is at least as scared of the Islamic fundamentalists as anyone else ( hence the fact that they will officially always end up not too far from the US).
On balance, I see the "leaks"as a bit of propaganda to convince the masses that the Government hasn't "sold out" to the Saudis, despite the political and diplomatic evidence to the contrary.

There is very little evidence to suggest that the Saudi regime is, or has ever been, anti-West in any sustained way (Estragon invites substantiated refutation) - they know which side their bread is buttered on.
But the regime is implacably anti-Israel, and the "anti-Saudi" statements may be not unconnected to this, at least as far as US domestc consumption is concerned.