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Monday, December 6, 2010     INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING

Document: For Saudis, stopping cash transfers
for terror outside its borders not a priority

LONDON — The United States has determined that Saudi Arabia is not trying to block funding to Al Qaida.

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A U.S. State Department report said that Saudi Arabia as well as other Gulf Cooperation Council states have failed to take sufficient action to halt the flow of money to Al Qaida. The memorandum, released by WikiLeaks, asserted that the Saudi royal family did not regard the insurgency funding of Al Qaida and Taliban as a priority.

"Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide," the classified memo from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. "In contrast to its increasingly aggressive efforts to disrupt Al Qaida's access to funding from Saudi sources, Riyad has taken only limited action to disrupt fundraising for the UN 1267-listed Taliban and LeT-groups that are also aligned with Al Qaida and focused on undermining stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan."


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The report to U.S. embassies in Gulf Arab states was dated December 2009 and relayed as the United States praised Saudi Arabia for blocking funds to Al Qaida. But the memo by Ms. Clinton, who repeatedly thanked Saudi Arabia for counter-insurgency cooperation, said Riyad was not interested in stopping the money flow to Al Qaida and Taliban, Middle East Newsline reported.

"It has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority," the memo said. "Intelligence suggests that these groups continue to send money overseas and, at times, fund extremism overseas."

The State Department report, a guide for U.S. diplomats, said Al Qaida was using most of the GCC states for financing and other operations. The memo cited Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as facilitating Al Qaida activities. Kuwait, which hosts about 15,000 U.S. troops, was said to have served as a "source of funds and a key transit point" for Al Qaida.

"Overall level of CT cooperation with the U.S. is considered the worst in the region," the report, referring to Qatar, said. "Al Qaida, the Taliban, UN-1267 listed LeT, and other terrorist groups exploit Qatar as a fundraising locale. Although Qatar's security services have the capability to deal with direct threats and occasionally have put that capability to use, they have been hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals."

The report urged U.S. diplomats to pressure the six GCC states to stop the flow of insurgency funds. The memo detailed visits by Al Qaida-aligned groups to Saudi Arabia for donations. The insurgents often came to Saudi Arabia in the guise of Muslim pilgrims.

"More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups," the memo said.

In 2010, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama said Saudi Arabia and other GCC states were cooperating in international efforts to block funding to Al Qaida. The administration said this has resulted in Al Qaida declining to its weakest level since 2001.

But the December 2009 memo gave no indication of significant GCC cooperation against Al Qaida. The report asserted that the Taliban, through intimidation, was raising money through the huge Pashtun community in the UAE.

"Some Afghan businessmen in the UAE have resorted to purchasing tickets on the day of travel to limit the chance of being kidnapped themselves upon arrival in either Afghanistan or Pakistan," the report said.



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