Senator Bob Graham of Florida served 18 years in the Senate, after two terms as Florida’s governor. He served on the Senate Intelligence Committee for many years and was its Chair after 9/11. In that position he had access to a lot more classified intelligence than most of the many “pundits” and so-called foreign policy experts who trumpet the new war against the Islamic State. He was a conservative Democrat for the most part. I am more inclined to believe what he has to say, and what he has to say is that we are making a big mistake in our new war against the ‘Islamic State’ in light of the role Saudis played and continue to play in stirring up Sunni vs. Shia conflict in the Middle East.

Senator Graham … said that successive administrations in Washington had turned a blind eye to Saudi support for Sunni extremists. He added: “I believe that the failure to shine a full light on Saudi actions and particularly its involvement in 9/11 has contributed to the Saudi ability to continue to engage in actions that are damaging to the US – and in particular their support for Isis.”

The Saudi connection to the 9/11 attacks is not news. It was revealed by the official US government investigation into the 9/11 attacks:

The Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 has long been public knowledge since 15 out of 19 of the hijackers were Saudis, and the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, was a member of the Saudi ruling elite. The 9/11 inquiry found that, for financing, al-Qaeda relied on a core group of private donors and charities in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Other prominent politicians on both sides of the aisle have demanded the release of classified materials implicating the Saudis in Al Queda’s activities that led to the attacks on 9/11.

Indeed, the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 found that the Saudi government supported the 9/11 attacks, but the Bush administration classified the 28 pages of the report which discussed the Saudis. […]

A bipartisan bill – introduced by congressmen Walter B. Jones (Republican from North Carolina) and Stephen Lynch (Democrat from Massachusetts) would declassify the 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry which implicate the Saudi government.

To which activities is Senator Graham referring? Perhaps the same ones discussed in this December, 2009 memo from then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December 2009 (released by Wikileaks) in which she urges US diplomats to pressure the Saudis to stop the financing of terrorist groups and organizations:

[D]onors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide.”

“In contrast to its increasingly aggressive efforts to disrupt al Qaeda’s access to funding from Saudi sources, Riyadh has taken only limited action to disrupt fundraising for the UN 1267-listed Taliban and LeT-groups that are also aligned with al Qaeda and focused on undermining stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

“More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups,” according to the memo signed by Clinton.

Other Arab countries cited as being sources of money for terrorists were Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

(cont. below the fold)
By way of background, the Saudi connection to the 9/11 attacks is not news. It was revealed by the official US government investigation into the 9/11 attacks:

The Saudi role in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 has long been public knowledge since 15 out of 19 of the hijackers were Saudis, and the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, was a member of the Saudi ruling elite. The 9/11 inquiry found that, for financing, al-Qaeda relied on a core group of private donors and charities in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Other prominent politicians on both sides of the aisle have demanded the release of classified materials implicating the Saudis in Al Queda’s activities that led to the attacks on 9/11.

Indeed, the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 found that the Saudi government supported the 9/11 attacks, but the Bush administration classified the 28 pages of the report which discussed the Saudis. […]

A bipartisan bill – introduced by congressmen Walter B. Jones (Republican from North Carolina) and Stephen Lynch (Democrat from Massachusetts) would declassify the 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry which implicate the Saudi government.

Former Senator Bob Graham is not shy about how he views our continued reliance upon and support for support The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in light of current developments in the Middle East. In his view we have failed to deter the growth and expansion terrorist organizations which threaten the people in the region as well as other countries across the globe.

He says that “one reason I think that our intelligence has been less than stellar” is that not enough attention was given to Saudi Arabia’s fostering of al-Qaeda-type jihadi movements, of which Isis is the most notorious and successful. So far the CIA and other intelligence services have faced little criticism in the US for their apparent failure to foresee the explosive expansion of Isis, which now controls an area larger than Great Britain in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

This doesn’t mean we should disengage with the Saudis, but in his opinion we need to take a harder stance in pressuring them to change their agenda to promote their own extreme version of Islam.

Senator Graham thinks it is wise to engage with Saudi Arabia because, despite Saudi denials, he says it has been “a central figure in financing Isis and extremist groups”. But he is cautious about success from the US point of view because of the Saudi monarchy’s long-term alliance with the Wahhabi clergy and its commitment to spread Wahhabism, the intolerant variant of Islam which denounces Shia as heretics and treats women as chattels under male control. The Senator says that Saudi Arabia not only gives support to Sunni communities worldwide “but the most extreme elements among the Sunni”.

Much like our unfettered support for Israel, for too long successive American administrations and Congress has for the most part uncritically supported the Saudis, despite clear knowledge of their activities harmful to our national security and to the stability of the region. Perhaps our blind antagonism toward the Iranian regime, which leaked its peak during the Bush/Cheney era, has something to do with that. However, many of large American corporations are inextricably intertwined with the Saudis because of their vast oil reserves. Our government chose to look away from the damage they inflicted, and continue to inflict, on the region, because of those corporate interests and often personal ties to the Saudis (e.g., the Bush family’s deep involvement with the Saudi government, for one).

The formation of, and attacks against the US by, Al Qaeda were a direct result of our government’s denial or refusal to examine too closely what the Saudis were up to in sponsoring the most extreme and violent variants of Sunni Islam. The same is true, in my opinion, and more importantly in the opinion of Senator Graham, regarding the current face of Middle eastern terrorism, ISIS a/k/a ISIL.

It’s time to take the blinders off and acknowledge the truth that the Saudis are a real and present danger to the people of the Middle East, and to the people in Europe, in Africa and in the United States. For too long we have ignored the dangers their meddling and the advancement of their agenda to advance an extreme fundamentalist and violent sect of Islam.

Otherwise, our military will remain the Saudi Kingdom’s private attack dog and protector, to the exclusion of the best interests of anyone other than those with business and personal ties to the Saudis. In addition, by failing to end the Saudi support for these terrorist organizations we will condemn ourselves to repeating the mistakes of the past, mistakes for which far too many people have paid far too high a price.