The Senate plans to investigate the distribution of
Wahabi tracts by the Saudi embassy to mosques around the United States.
In mid-2005, the Center for Religious Freedom issued a report on the
distribution of Saudi government material to mosques in such major cities as
Los Angeles, New York and Washington. The Wahabi tracts deemed U.S.
democracy as against Islam and urged Muslim immigrants to regard Americans
as their enemies.
On Oct. 25, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing on
the Saudi government role in the distribution of the material to U.S.
mosques, Middle East Newsline reported. Congressional aides said the hearing would be part of chairman Sen.
Arlen Specter's efforts to promote his Saudi Arabia Accountability Act,
which has sought to halt Riyad's support for Al Qaida-aligned institutions
and promote cooperation with the United States in counter-terrorism.
The investigation plans to focus on allegations that the Saudi embassy
in Washington has imported and distributed thousands of Wahabi tracts to
dozens of mosques in U.S. cities. The tracts were said to
preach hatred against Christians and Jews.
In October, the Bush administration acknowledged the Saudi role in
distributing the tracts deemed as inciteful. Undersecretary of State Karen
Hughes raised the issue during her visit to Saudi Arabia in a tense session
with leaders of the kingdom.
"We had been raising the issue privately and as part of raising
difficult issues that we need to discuss, I felt it was appropriate," Ms.
Hughes said.
Congressional aides said the Senate hearing would include
representatives from the State Department and FBI. They said the list of
witnesses would include Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser
and Alan Misenheimer, director of the Arabian Peninsula and Iran Affairs
desk at the State Department.
The administration has been sending mixed messages regarding Saudi
Arabia. Officials have praised the Saudi alliance with the United States in
the war against Al Qaida.
At the same time, the administration has been concerned over the Saudi
failure to support U.S. policy in Iraq. On Oct. 19, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized
the assertion of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal that Iraq was
collapsing.
"I really think that the proper role for Saudi Arabia or for any other
country in the region is to help them, not critique them," Ms. Rice told the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "And I've made that point very clear to
countries in the region."
