Senators turn screws on Saudi terror funds

Following up on a ground-breaking hearing on Wahhabi terrorism by Senator Jon Kyl a month ago, senators from both parties have joined in, grilling federal officials about the Saudi Arabian government’s financial support for groups that the U.S. government has designated as terrorist.

Newsweek reports that the top FBI counterterrorism official who ignored Senator Kyl’s request to testify about Wahhabi influence earlier in June, also attempted to quash the July 31 hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on terrorism funding.

Senators from both parties grew visibly angry at government officials who danced around the issue and wouldn’t give straight answers to basic questions. They also heard testimony from a senior Treasury Department official who said he was “had been prevented from identifying” the financial ties of Saudi individuals to terrorism, even though his office had documented them.

Exhibiting captured terrorist documents released by Israeli intelligence, the hearing showed how the Saudi government has increased – not reduced – their support for certain terrorist organizations. According to an internal Senate staff memo cited in Newsweek, Unfortunately, while the Saudis appear to be taking their own domestic threat seriously, there is no indication that they have scaled back their support for Hamas.” The Senate panel is looking at ties between Hamas and al Qaeda.