Report: 'Generously funded' effort by Saudis 'radicalized U.S. troops'
Monday, November 16, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
WASHINGTON Ñ Saudi Arabia has been identified as the source of the growing Islamization in the U.S. military.
A leading analyst said that Saudi Arabia spent millions of dollars in its effort to convert U.S. soldiers to Islam. The analyst said the campaign by Riyad began during the 1991 war against Iraq, which involved the deployment of nearly 500,000 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
"Nearly two decades have passed since the Saudi conversion campaign, and most of the converts may no longer be in uniforms," the analyst, Gal Luft, said. "But the seeds sown during the Gulf War have germinated, creating scores of radicalized Americans who are a threat to their comrades in uniforms as well as to their civilian communities."
In a report by Harvard University, Luft, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has been living in the United States, traced the November 2009 killing of 13 U.S. soldiers by a Muslim officer to a Saudi indoctrination campaign. He said the Saudi campaign resulted in the spread of Wahabi doctrine, which stresses Islamic war.
"While Muslim soldiers have served in uniforms loyally for decades, it is the rising number of Wahabi-trained and converted Muslims that is a relatively recent phenomenon," the report, "How the Saudis radicalized U.S. troops," said. "Since Wahabism is one of the most radical and puritan strands of Islam, the penetration of Wahabi thinking into the ranks of the military must be treated with care."
The report, released on Nov. 10, said the spread of Wahabi influence has endangered U.S. soldiers. A recurring prospect has been that of Wahabi-indoctrinated soldiers turning on their colleagues.
[On Nov. 12, federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint against an alleged Iranian-aligned foundation that controls mosques, schools and an office tower in several U.S. cities. Under the motion, the federal government would seize more than $500 million from the Alavi Foundation.]
Luft, quoting former U.S. officers, said Saudi military personnel were directed to identify and missionize their American counterparts. He said the Saudi campaign was a "well-orchestrated and generously funded effort sponsored by the Saudi government to convert as many American military members as possible to Islam."
At one point, Saudi commander and now deputy defense minister, Prince Khaled Bin Sultan, bragged that more than 2,000 U.S. troops converted to Islam in 1991. Some of the U.S. officers were said to have been given as much as $30,000 to convert.
"These Muslim troops are now the messengers of Islam in the U.S. forces," Dr. Abu Ameena Bilal Phillips, an Islamic convert who missionizes in the military, was quoted by the report as saying.
The report said the shooting by Maj. Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas represented an Islamic attack. Luft quoted Hasan as shouting to fellow soldiers, "You guys are coming into our countries and youÕre going to rape our women and kill our children."
"It is time to investigate what exactly happened back then in the desert and assess how serious and deep-rooted the damage is," the report said.