Saudi Crown Prince Admits to Mainstream Media That Saudis ‘Financed Terrorist Groups’

 In the days after a judge ruled that there is enough evidence for a lawsuit  filed by 9/11 victims against Saudi Arabia to move forward, the  kingdom’s most powerful monarch is admitting that the Saudis are  responsible for sponsoring terrorism. 

In a recent interview  with The Atlantic, Prince Mohammed bin Salman was asked to comment on  his country’s role in providing material support to terrorists. Salman  denied any notion the 

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia funded terrorist groups. “When it comes to financing extremist groups, I challenge anyone  if he can bring any evidence that the Saudi government financed  terrorist groups,” he said. But in a surprising admission to what the families of 9/11 victims  have alleged in federal court, Salman issued a stunning revelation: 

“Yes, there are people from Saudi Arabia who financed terrorist groups.”

However, Salman also said funding terrorists is still against the law in Saudi Arabia. 

“This is against Saudi law,” he said. “We have a lot of people in jail now, not only for financing terrorist groups but even for supporting them.” 

The prince then turned his attention to the subject of his country’s  seige of Qatar. In 2017, Qatar was the recipient of a Saudi-led  blockade, which Amnesty International claimed was having dire consequences.

 The blockade has been, “splitting  up families, interrupting students’ education, threatening jobs,  raising prices of staple foods in Qatar, and leaving residents of the  region facing an uncertain future.”

Salman went into great detail to reveal why Saudi Arabia’s blockade  of Qatar has been put into effect. 

He alleged Qatar is funneling funds  to groups that threaten the national security of Saudi Arabia. “One of the reasons we have a problem with Qatar is that we are  not allowing them to use the financial system between us to collect  money from Saudis and give it to extremist organizations,” Salman said. Earlier in the interview, Goldberg attempted to call into question  the role of Wahhabism. 

He referenced Saudi funding of Madrassas (Islamic  schools) all around the world as evidence that the oil-rich monarchy  has actually fueled terrorism, by teaching extremism to children. Salman was very cautious, one might say, when addressing the role of  Wahhabism. 

One reason for doing so could be that he was afraid to speak  critically of the very extremists whose teachings allow for honor  killings, capital punishment for homosexuals, a segregated (by sex)  Saudi society, and religious oppression throughout the Saudi kingdom. He was seemingly in denial Wahhabism even exists, let alone brainwashes  millions of young people throughout the world. 

“No one can define Wahhabism,” Salman insisted. “There is no Wahhabism. We don’t believe we have Wahhabism.” 

Attempting to deny completely the very existence of Wahabbis in the country, he stated, “We believe we have, in Saudi Arabia, Sunni and Shiite.” Salman completely avoided any criticism of Wahhabism. 

In addition to  refusing to allow it to be defined, he went further by clearly stating  that it does not exist. It was not the most shocking statement Salman  made. Many reading the transcripts of the interview might think the  comments Salman made regarding the State of Israel were the most  surprising. Not only did the progressive prince acknowledge Israel’s right to  exist, he stated they have a right to live in peace alongside  Palestinians. When asked about Israel’s claim to their ancestral  homelands, Salman stated unequivocally: 

“I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to  live in their peaceful nation. I believe the Palestinians and the  Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a  peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal  relations.”

Much of the interview was focused on Prince Salman’s disdain for  Iran’s supreme ruler, Ali Khamenei, whom Salman equated to Adolf Hitler.  Comparing the two, Salman stated: 

“Hitler didn’t do what the supreme leader is trying to  do. Hitler tried to conquer Europe. This is bad…But the supreme leader  is trying to conquer the world. He believes he owns the world. They are  both evil guys. He is the Hitler of the Middle East. In the 1920s and  1930s, no one saw Hitler as a danger. Only a few people. Until it  happened. We don’t want to see what happened in Europe happen in the  Middle East. We want to stop this through political moves, economic  moves, intelligence moves. We want to avoid war.”

Few Americans will have any sympathy if and when it is revealed that any ruling Monarchy in Saudi Arabia funded  the 9/11 attacks. Not only will the families be asking for monetary  compensation, it is highly likely they will be calling their Congressmen  and asking for much more punitive measures. In other words, they will  want revenge. 

Nevertheless, Prince Salman has been spending a noticeable amount of  time and energy courting American power brokers and promising reforms in  one of the world’s most intolerant countries. Stopping short of promising to end the oppression of women by his  country’s religious leaders and legal system, Salman spoke with  nostalgia of his country in the 1960s. Comparing that era with the  modern-day practice of mandating women have male guardians while in  public, Salman remarked: 

“Before 1979 there were societal guardianship customs,  but no guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia. It doesn’t go back to the time  of the Prophet Muhammad. In the 1960s women didn’t travel with male  guardians. But it happens now, and we want to move on it and figure out a  way to treat this that doesn’t harm families and doesn’t harm the  culture.”

When Salman was pressed on the genocide currently taking place in  Yemen and the role Saudi Arabia has played in making it worse, he  side-stepped much of the criticism but stated his country’s reasons for  bombing Yemen. 

“We fought to get rid of extremists in Syria and Iraq and  then they started to create a haven in Yemen. It would be much harder  to get rid of extremists in Yemen than Iraq or Syria. Our campaign is  focused on helping the legitimate government and bringing stability.  Saudi Arabia is trying to help the people of Yemen.”

Saudi Arabia is largely a Sunni nation. Their mortal enemy, whose  leader Prince Salman equated with Hitler, is Shiite. The war between the  world’s most dominant Muslim faiths is being played out in proxy wars  in Africa and the Middle East. But a larger World War could emerge if  Iran does not cease its funding of rebel groups, and Saudi Arabia does  not, likewise, cease its funding of terrorist organizations. Salman  seemed worried about the possibility of a larger, global conflict. He  said: 

“We are pushing back on these Iranian moves. We’ve done  this in Africa, Asia, in Malaysia, in Sudan, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon. We  believe that after we push back, the problems will move inside Iran. We  don’t know if the regime will collapse or not—it’s not the target, but  if collapses, great, it’s their problem. We have a war scenario in the  Middle East right now. This is very dangerous for the world. We cannot  take the risk here. We have to take serious painful decisions now to  avoid painful decisions later.”

One painful decision Salman and his country will have to face is how  they will handle the impending lawsuit being brought against the Saudi  Kingdom from its allies in the United States. Lawyers for the  plaintiffs, the families of victims from the 9/11 attacks, are likely  prepared to battle in a court of law, and the 9/11 Commission has  already done much of the work for them. 

As The Free Thought Project has reported,  the final 28 pages in the 9/11 Report clearly revealed—even though the  U.S. government attempted to prevent the information from being  released—that Saudi officials played a role in the attacks. The time for  the royal family of Saudi Arabia to answer for its role in killing  thousands of Americans is long overdue. No amount of charm and wooing by  its Prince can prevent the reckoning. 

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