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June 6, 2008

Al Qaeda Founder Active again in Saudi Arabia?

Douglas Farah

Is Wael Julaidan, founder of al Qaeda and one of only two Saudis ever designated as terrorist financiers by the Saudi regime and supposedly out of circulation, back in the public spotlight? It would seem so.

According to the English language Saudi paper, the the Arab News, Julaidan was a featured speaker at a recent conference hosted by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). The article was first noted and commented on by the Global MB Report (registration required).

There are no other known leaders of Julaidan's stature that my most knowledgeable sources say share that name, or would be noted with such prominence; so the likelihood that it is the same Julaidan that is designated by the UN, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, is very high.

This would mean, in essence, that one of the very few actions the Saudis claimed to have taken against the financiers and sympathizers of al Qaeda was a bogus as almost every other step the Kingdom has claimed to have taken.

The WAMY conference was a big deal, that Julaidan's appearance there was a high-profile event, where he was listed on the program as a "major speaker." So no one tried to sneak anything by anyone.

Julaidan was not a garden-variety designation, and it cost a great deal of U.S. pressure, where significant evidence was presented by senior U.S. officials, to get him designated at all. It is worth recalling that, immediately after designating Julaidan, the Saudis immediately said he had not been designated. Pressed by the Americans, they again reversed course and said he was under house arrest, with his assets frozen.

If that were ever true, and no one was allowed to question the man who bin Laden has publicly credited with helping to found his organization, it appears that it is no longer true.

Julaidan also played a prominent role in Rabita Trust, where some branches were linked to financing al Qaeda, and he played a prominent role in the Sudanese-run Third World Relief Agency (TWRA), the al Qaeda-linked charity that funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Muslim fighters in Bosnia.

It is unlikely the rehabilitation of Julaidan will have any consequences, despite the naked lies the Saudi regime has told regarding his circumstance. We are tied to their oil; President Bush still visits the Kingdom to hold hands with the princes; and little changes.

But it exactly this type of action the give indications as to the seriousness of those supposedly doing their best to cut off terrorist funding. When you let the check writer go, with a full bank account, words don't really matter much.

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