The U.S. ambassador in Riyadh, Joseph Westphal, hailed the new Saudi ruler on Friday, proclaiming that ties “will only be strengthened by the wisdom and courage that is the essence of King Salman.” Former U.S. envoy to Saudi Arabia Robert Jordan described Salman as “a reformer … well prepared for the task at hand,” and the Washington Post is reporting that analysts consider Salman “a moderate in the mold of Abdullah,” the late king.
Salman Saudi financial point for proxy war
As former CIA official Bruce Riedel astutely pointed out, served as Saudi Arabia’s financial point man for bolstering fundamentalist proxies in war zones abroad.
Salman’s half brother King Khalid (who ruled from 1975 to 1982) appointing Salman to run the fundraising committee that gathered support from the royal family and other Saudis to support the mujahideen against the Soviets.
“Salman also helped recruit fighters for Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, an Afghan Salafist fighter who served as a mentor to both Osama bin Laden and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.”
Reprising this role in Bosnia, Salman was appointed by his full brother and close political ally King Fahd to direct the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SHC) upon its founding in 1992. Through the SHC, Salman gathered donations from the royal family for Balkan relief, supervising the commission until its until its recent closure in 2011.
By 2001, the organization had collected around $600 million — nominally for relief and religious purposes, but money that allegedly also went to facilitating arms shipments, despite a U.N. arms embargo on Bosnia and other Yugoslav successor states from 1991 to 1996.
And what kind of supervision did Salman exercise over this international commission? In 2001, NATO forces raided the SHC’s Sarajevo offices, discovering a treasure trove of terrorist materials: before-and-after photographs of al Qaeda attacks, instructions on how to fake U.S. State Department badges, and maps marked to highlight government buildings across Washington.
A defector from al Qaeda called to testify before the United Nations, and who gave a deposition for lawyers representing the families of 9/11 victims, alleged that both Salman’s SHC and the TWRA provided essential support to al Qaeda in Bosnia, including to his 107-man combat unit. In a deposition related to the 9/11 case, he stated that the SHC “participated extensively in supporting al Qaida operations in Bosnia” and that the TWRA “financed, and otherwise supported” the terrorist group’s fighters.
“The Defense Intelligence Agency also once accused the Saudi High Commission of shipping both aid and weapons to Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the al Qaeda-linked Somali warlord depicted as a villain in the movie Black Hawk Down”
Saudi Arabia’s role in Afghanistan and the Balkans
In November 2002, Prince Salman patronized a fundraising gala for three Saudi charities under investigation by Washington: the International Islamic Relief Organization, al-Haramain Foundation, and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. Since 9/11, all three organizations have had branches shuttered or sanctioned over allegations of financially supporting terrorism. That same month, Salman cited his experience on the boards of charitable societies, asserting that “it is not the responsibility of the kingdom” if others exploit Saudi donations for terrorism.
Salman’s role to run the Abdulaziz bin Baz Foundation
Aqeel al-Aqil, a Saudi national placed under U.S. sanctions in 2004 for leading an organization alleged to have aided al Qaeda in more than 13 countries, was one member of the Baz Foundation’s board under Salman. Aqil retained his spot on the foundation’s board for several years following the imposition of the sanctions. When he did eventually leave the board, the foundation added another Saudi preacher, named Aidh Abdullah al-Qarni, who, in a speech on the Arab-Israeli conflict, declared that “throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered. This is the path to victory.”
Qarni is far from the only extremist cleric with whom Salman has worked. The new king has also embraced Saudi cleric Saleh al-Maghamsi, an Islamic supremacist who declared in 2012 that Osama bin Laden had more “sanctity and honor in the eyes of Allah,” simply for being a Muslim, than “Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, apostates, and atheists,” whom he described by nature as “infidels.”
A Opportunist king Salman
That didn’t put an end to Salman’s ties to Maghamsi, however. The new Saudi king recently served as head of the supervisory board for a Medina research center directed by Maghamsi. A year after Maghamsi’s offensive comments, Salman sponsored and attended a large cultural festival organized by the preacher. Maghamsi also advises two of Salman’s sons, one of whom took an adoring “selfie” with the preacher last year.
“The worst-case scenario is that the new king shares the hard-liners’ views; the best case is that he is simply an opportunist, willing to accept intolerance in order to get ahead.”
U.S. officials have explained that the purpose of President Obama’s visit is to forge a “close relationship” with the new Saudi king and to take his measure of the man. As Western officials consider how to engage with the new Saudi regime, Salman’s record of bolstering and embracing extremists needs to be part of the conversation. The worst-case scenario is that the new king shares the hard-liners’ views; the best case is that he is simply an opportunist, willing to accept intolerance in order to get ahead.
Many in the West wish for a Saudi king who will pass meaningful reforms and push back against incitement by local extremists. Sadly, Salman does not look to be that man.
This article originally appeared in Foreign Policy.
King salman is the hope Dr.Eng.Mohsen Alamir
Hi David,
Let’s not forget that in the proxy war that was the Soviet/Afghanistan War, the Mujahadeen were on our side.
Not only were they on our side, we were also helping to fund them along with the Saudis.
The only difference was the Saudi funding was cash, our ‘funding’ was small arms and intelligence.
Yes, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and the Afghanis were fighting back, hopelessly outgunned and outclassed, until we and the Saudis stepped in with our contribution.
The Saudis for their own reasons (nervousness about Soviet expansion into Muslim lands) while our reason was to bolster the overall effort against the USSR, and to have the Warsaw pact die a death by a thousand cuts.
King Salman is likely focus less on reform (which many Saudis felt was forced on them by former King Abdullah ‘too much, too fast’ for such a conservative nation) and focus more on international trade and especially trade within the region.
*I believe he will reach out to Israel once (and I stress, only once) during his Kingship, likely in some kind of trade deal that both nations will find an ‘easy sell’ to their citizens.*
>If he is rebuffed, I suspect that will be the end of any significant upgrades to the relationship.
>If his gesture is accepted and everyone keeps their part of the bargain, I believe he will try to find evermore mutually beneficial trade with Israel — directly, or at arm’s length — in either case ‘easy sells’ to each nations’ citizens, in order to gradually but profoundly change the nature of the relationship via trade — as opposed to diplomacy — which has so far, failed.
Former King Abdullah tried the diplomatic and interfaith dialogue route, I believe that King Salman will try to normalize relations with all regional governments (by this, I principally mean Israel) by normalization of trade, in incremental, logical, and mutually beneficial steps.
I sincerely hope his efforts in this regard will be reciprocated by Israel and other regional governments.
There is no excuse good enough in my view, to not (over reasonable time frames) to dramatically change the relationships for the better, between Israel and Arab nations.
Best regards, JBS