Stopping the Saudis

The Bush administration’s decision to withhold portions of the Joint Inquiry Report into 9/11— the sections that reportedly deal with Riyadh’s support for terrorism—is perhaps its most serious political misstep to date. It provides an opening for an attack on the president on a legitimate national-security issue—one that, unlike the WMD and Iraq-war issues, has real substance and political traction. More importantly, the unwillingness of Washington to face up to the incontrovertible evidence that our Saudi friends are the chief financial and ideological enablers of Islamic extremism and terrorism will sooner or later hamper our ability to pursue the war on terror. In fact, there is good reason to believe that it already has, both abroad and domestically.

At first glance, the war on terror would seem to be going well. Two brilliantly planned and executed military campaigns have denied the practitioners of terror their bases of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the potential to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction. This has also set the stage for a decisive and highly promising geopolitical realignment in the Middle East. Here at home, security has been enhanced and we have been able to prevent terrorist incidents since 9/11. Last but not least, we have arrested a number of top terrorist operatives, and al-Qaeda seems to be on the run.

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About the Author

Alex Alexiev

Mr. Alexiev is an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.

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The Bush administration’s decision to withhold portions of the Joint Inquiry Report into 9/11— the sections that reportedly deal with Riyadh’s support for terrorism—is perhaps its most serious political misstep to date. It provides an opening for an attack on the president on a legitimate national-security issue—one that, unlike the WMD and Iraq-war issues, has real substance and political traction. More importantly, the unwillingness of Washington to face up to the incontrovertible evidence that our Saudi friends are the chief financial and ideological enablers of Islamic extremism and terrorism will sooner or later hamper our ability to pursue the war on terror. In fact, there is good reason to believe that it already has, both abroad and domestically.

At first glance, the war on terror would seem to be going well. Two brilliantly planned and executed military campaigns have denied the practitioners of terror their bases of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and the potential to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction. This has also set the stage for a decisive and highly promising geopolitical realignment in the Middle East. Here at home, security has been enhanced and we have been able to prevent terrorist incidents since 9/11. Last but not least, we have arrested a number of top terrorist operatives, and al-Qaeda seems to be on the run.