Hakki ----------------------------------- http://cgis.jpost.com/cgi-bin/General/printarticle.cgi?article=/Editions/200 2/01/09/LatestNews/LatestNews.41373.html
Former CIA director: Saudis partially to blame for 9/11 ------------------------------------ By George Gedda, The Associated Press January, 09 2002 ------------------------------------ WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia, says former CIA Director James Woolsey, "deserves a very large part of the blame for Sept. 11. I do not think we should do anything more with them right now than be cordial."
Woolsey's is a minority view. It certainly is at odds with that of the Bush administration and of other outside experts, several of whom believe the United States has no choice but to enhance cooperation with the reclusive but strategically placed oil-rich kingdom.
Woolsey's biting comment about Saudi Arabia refers in part to the Saudi practice, both at the government and private levels, of financing true-believing Muslim activists in distant lands, including Central and South Asia.
In some cases, their militancy has been transformed into support for terrorism, and the Saudis' lack of internal controls to keep tabs on these radicals has come back to haunt them.
American diplomats report that the Saudis were horrified to learn that 15 of the 19 al-Qaida terror network operatives who participated in the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings were Saudi nationals.
Woolsey, who served as CIA director from 1993 to 1995, says the United States should hold the Saudis accountable.
"The Saudis have exported an extreme form of Islamist philosophy," he says. "Much of the money for al-Qaida has come from Saudi Arabia." (...)