WASHINGTON Ñ Thousands of Arabs are continuing to be indocrinated in
Islamic holy war in countries aligned with the United States including Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Sen. Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
said the growth of Islamic indocrination is endangering the U.S. security
relationship with Riyad. Levin said Saudi Arabia has failed to restrict the
so-called Islamic schools, or "madrassas," in wake of the Sept. 11 suicide
attacks on New York and Washington.
"What makes it a little different is the support that comes from that
country for the madrassas," Levin said. "I think if the Saudi government
wanted [it could] prevent that from happening."
U.S. experts have told Congress that the failure of these governments
have allowed Islamic fundamentalist groups to indoctrinate young Muslims in
holy war. They said these countries have failed to stop the unauthorized
schools, which serve as training ground for future Islamic insurgents.
"Right now a whole generation of young boys in certain Middle Eastern
states are going through these madrassas and being indoctrinated
into jihad [holy war] because they have no other way to feed
themselves," Michelle Flournoy, a researcher of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, said. "They have no other way to clothe themselves.
They have no other way to get an education, if that can be called an
education."
Ms. Flournoy told a Senate hearing in December that the Bush
administration must use foreign aid to help eliminate Islamic
indoctrination. She said the problem is greatest in Egypt, Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia.
"I think one of the questions we have to ask is whether we want to
funnel all of our foreign assistance through governments, or whether we want
to invest more directly in civil societies, and through non governmental
organizations, through other groups that will build up educational
structures," she said.
In Riyad, Saudi officials ruled out any change in government policy
toward the Islamic schools or curriculum. "Our curriculum is based on
well-established principles, determined by our needs and the requirements of
our society," Saudi Education Minister Mohammed Al Rashid told the
Riyad-based Al Watan daily. "No one has the right to interfere in our
affairs or to dictate to us."
At the hearing, senators expressed skepticism whether U.S. aid could
stop fundamentalism. They said introducing modernization and democracy in
Saudi Arabia could merely increase Islamic opposition to the kingdom.
But Ms. Flournoy said U.S. allies in the Arab world must be told that
Islamic extremism will no longer be tolerated. "I would say," she said, "'We
know you have a problem of extremists on your soil; in the past you have
managed that problem by tolerating a certain degree of activity as long as
it was directed outward. That is no longer acceptable for us. Because we
have lost too many lives as a result of that posture. So, that needs to
change.'"