Sarah Eskreis-Winkler: America's economic ties to the 'epicenter' of terrorism

In his latest book, Why America Slept, Gerald Posner detailed the interrogation of al Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah, an alleged culprit of the U.S.S. Cole attack. Zubaydah -- tricked into thinking his Arab-American interrogators were Saudis -- gave them the personal telephone numbers of senior members of the Saudi royal family who would "tell them what to do."

When the inquisitors told Zubaydah they doubted his Saudi ties, he began to describe the al Qaeda-Saudi connection, detailing a 1991 meeting between Osama bin Laden and the chief of Saudi intelligence. It was there that the Saudi chief agreed to fund bin Laden's terror network on the condition that he did not bring jihad to the Saudi kingdom.

Zubaydah named three Saudi royal princes, who transferred the Saudi funds to the al Qaeda operatives. But when the CIA notified Riyadh of these accusations, all three princes died mysteriously within days of one another. Was it a coincidence? Or did the House of Saud fear that interrogation of the three intermediaries would provide an information trail embarrassing to the kingdom?

The war on terrorism is our generation's fight. Our first line of offense must be knowledge. So before a comprehensive battle plan can be drafted, we must thoroughly investigate how the terror networks arose, explain what the motivations were behind their proliferation, identify all parties involved and separate the tangled web of alliances. Then, we must find the source of terrorism and stamp it out.

A large root of the tree lies in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are a key component in the equation, but has their full involvement been overlooked?

Last week, Treasury Secretary John Snow visited a number of Middle Eastern states to encourage cooperation in freezing terrorist assets. After talks with Crown Prince Abdullah and other Saudi officials, Snow left on an optimistic note, praising the Saudis for their help.

Yet Treasury Department General Counsel David Aufhauser recently testified before a Senate committee that Saudi Arabia is the "epicenter" of international terror financing.

The Saudis provide extensive funding to worldwide terrorism, inculcate the Arab world with hatred, extremism and fundamentalism and, as Posner claims, likely have direct links to al Qaeda.

For years, the Saudi government and its citizens have been funneling money through various charities to terrorist organizations. American officials estimate that at least 50 percent of Hamas' $10 million annual budget comes from Saudi Arabian sources. The government itself has been complicit, even supervising telethons that raised millions for relatives of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Last fall, Crown Prince Abdullah met with senior Hamas leader Khalid Mishaal -- whose name appears on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of terrorist financiers. Documents printed on official Hamas letterhead record that Mishaal thanked his Saudi hosts for continuing "to send aid to the people... despite all the American pressures exerted on them."

In addition to the quid pro quos with terrorists and monetary support, the Saudis build madrassas, or religious schools, dedicated to teaching Wahhabism, a fundamentalist form of Islam. The Saudi government has established thousands of such learning institutions, both in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East, from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Egypt. Wahhabi textbooks proclaim that it is the duty of all Muslims to treat all infidels as the enemy. Students are taught to hate Christians, Jews and even Muslims who do not practice this exclusionary, extremist form of Islam. Not surprisingly, graduates emerge as prime targets for terrorist recruiters.

So why has the Bush administration muted its criticism of Saudi Arabia? Because over the past few months, the Saudis have shown signs of cooperation in the war on terror. Their government has demanded greater accountability on the destinations of charitable donations.

Crown Prince Abdullah can promise all he wants, but if extremist schools across the Arab world are indoctrinating their students with intolerance to outsiders, then the terrorism problem will only be magnified and solidified. The forces that breed violence and radicalism must be severed. Such action does not secure a victory over terrorism, but is definitely a prerequisite.

While arming ourselves with knowledge and studying the nuances of the situation is essential to effectively combat terrorism, it is the disarming of the Wahhabi educational system that is crucial to achieving success. If schools around the region are already molding the terrorists of tomorrow, it is not even sufficient to capture or kill all of the terrorists alive today.

When the al-Saud dynasty established rule in 1745, it made a deal with the radical Wahhabis: the House of Saud would manage all political matters and leave the religious and social institutions to the Wahhabis. Maneuvering a Saudi-Wahhabi split might be the only way to stop continued funding of worldwide terrorism, to break ties to terrorist groups and, most importantly, to reform the Arab education system.

The Saudis are walking a fine line. They will likely say what needs to be said as they hope that America falls back to sleep. We must take a hard line and show them that they need to stop dreaming.

Sarah Eskreis-Winkler is a College sophomore from Wynnewood, Pa.

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