Saudis at Iraq, Lebanon battles embarrass homeland
Obviously, having 15 of the 19 9/11 monsters coming from Saudi Arabia wasn't sufficient embarrassment, now they're exporting a good portion of the jihadists to Iraq and Lebanon.
Don't buy their BS for a nanosecond.
RIYADH, July 19 (Reuters) - Recent reports suggesting there are significant numbers of Saudis fighting alongside Islamist militant groups in Iraq and Lebanon have provoked embarrassment and soul-searching in Saudi Arabia.
Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie said this week that Iraq had tried 160 Saudis for involvement in violence, and a report in a U.S. newspaper said 45 percent of foreigners fighting in Iraq were Saudis.
Lebanese officials say dozens of Saudis are among militants of the Fatah al-Islam militant group which has been battling the army for two months in a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon. The Saudi-owned Arabic press has countered the reports, citing officials who say the numbers are exaggerated in both Iraq and Lebanon.
Columnists are once again wrestling with the issue of the Saudi role in global Islamist militancy, an issue which first came up after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 where 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi nationals.
"The question raised since the 9/11 terrorist attacks is whether Saudis, once known as the most peace-loving people, are aware that they have become an international problem?" wrote Abdel-Rahman al-Rashed in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper this week. "Why Saudis, we may ask? Because they are mentally and politically prepared to act like time bombs that can be manipulated by regimes with dangerous political agendas."
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