You are invited to attend a timely conference on the connection between terrorism and religious oppression

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia,

CDHR, is pleased to present:

“The Religious Freedom Imperative: The Antidote to Violent Extremism”

Nov. 15, 2011 (10 AM to 12 noon)

Rayburn Congressional Office Building, Room 2168

Lunch will be served

RSVP necessary

Contact Person: Ali Alyami

ali@cdhr.info; (202) 413-0084

ما لا يقال عن اعتقال ثلاثة شبان لتسليطهم الضوء على قضية الفقر في السعودية

تحليل مركز الديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان في السعودية – واشنطن

اعتلقت السلطات السعودية في 16 من شهر اكتوبر الجاري فريق عمل برنامج "ملعوب علينا" بعد تسليطهم الضوء على قضية الفقر في السعودية. وقد أثار اعتقال الفريق استياء المراقبين ونشطاء حقوق الإنسان والمواطنين العاديين الذين رأو أن المخرج فراس بقنة وزملائه لا يستحقون الاعتقال بل يستحقون التكريم والإشادة. والسؤال الذي يطرح نفسه هو: ما هي الجريمة التي ارتكبها فريق عمل "ملعوب علينا" الذين حاولوا تنبيه السلطات والمسؤولين إلى تفشي ظاهرة الفقر في بلد يعتبر من أغنى دول العالم؟

إن الاعتقال التعسفي لأولئك الشباب المخلصين لوطنهم بسبب تطرقهم لقضية العدالة الاجتماعية دليل واضح على عدم رغبة السلطات في السعودية الاعتراف بمعاناة بعض شرائح المجتمع التي ترزح في فقر مدقع وتفتقر لأبسط مقومات الحياة.

إن اعتقال فراس وزملائه هو استمرار للنهج القمعي الذي تمارسه السلطات ضد من يهتمون بقضايا المهمشين ومن يطالبون بوضع حد للفساد.

وبدلا من أن تعترف السلطات بحق الفقراء من المواطنين في العيش الكريم الذي يعتبر من الحقوق الاساسية كما أوضحت حلقة الفقر في برنامج "ملعوب علينا" اعتبرت السلطة طرح الشباب للموضوع ومناقشته تشكيكا في عدالة الدولة وتدخلا في صلاحيات المسؤولين وربما تحريضا للرأي العام وهي التهمة التي أعتادت السلطات على توجيهها للنشطاء الحقوقيين والمطالبين بالإصلاح والعدالة الاجتماعية.

لقد تمادت السلطات السعودية في ظلمها للشعب وتجاوزت كل الحدود في عدم احترام مطالبه الشرعية فقد اكتظت السجون بالأبرياء من سجناء الرأي والضمير. إلى متى تستمر السلطات السعودية في محاربة من يطالبون بالاصلاح بصورة سلمية وبطريقة حضارية في الوقت الذي تثور فيه الشعوب العربية للتخلص من الظلم والفساد الذي يعاني منه الشعب السعودي؟

إن استمرار سياسة القمع ضد المواطنين التي طالت جميع شرائح المجتمع رجالا ونساء شبابا وشيوخا ليبراليين ومحافظين سنة وشيعة جعلت الشعب يزداد تمسكا بمطالبه المشروعة في الحرية والعدالة والمشاركة في تقرير مصيره.

إن كانت السلطات السعودية حريصة على وحدة الشعب وسلامته وعلى السير به نحو مستقبل زاهر تتوفر فيه العدالة والحرية وكرامة الانسان فإن الفرصة لاتزال سانحة للقيام بذلك، فالشعب لم يطالب حتى الآن برحيل النظام إنما بالعدالة والمساواة وبناء دولة المؤسسات التي يحكمها دستور يحدد الحقوق والواجبات ويحمي الحريات ويساوي بين المواطنين.

ما لا يقال عن انعدام المواطنة الحقيقية في السعودية

تحليل مركز الديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان في السعودية – واشنطن

من الأفضل تعريف مفهوم المواطنة قبل الحديث عن انعدامها في السعودية:

المواطنة هي صفة المواطن الذي له حقوق وعليه واجبات تفرضها طبيعة انتمائه إلى وطن. ومن هذه الحقوق: حق التعليم، حق الرعاية الصحية، وتوفير فرص العمل، والحق في المشاركة في صناعة القرار وضمان تنفيذه ومحاسبة المسؤولين. ومن الواجبات: واجب الولاء للوطن - وليس للحاكم - والدفاع عنه، وواجب أداء العمل، وإتقانه. وبناء على ذلك فالمواطنة هي علاقة الفرد بدولته، علاقة يحددها دستور متفق عليه والقوانين المنبثقة عنه والتي تحمل وتضمن معنى المساواة بين المواطنين.

السؤال الذي يطرح نفسه الآن هو: هل يتوافق تعريف المواطنة في السعودية مع التعريف أعلاه؟

إن من يطلق عليهم مسمى "مواطنون" في السعودية لا يحظون بالعديد من حقوق المواطنة الحقيقية لانعدام المساواة بين المواطنين بسبب عدم وجود قوانين يشارك الجميع في صنعها وضمان تنفيذها. ويتضح من التسمية (سعودي) أن أنتماء المواطن ليس إلى وطن وإنما إلى الأسرة التي تحكم البلد.

وقد أدى غياب المواطنة بمفهومها الصحيح في السعودية إلى تزايد الفرقة بين أبناء الشعب الذي أصبح يستند إلى معايير أخرى كالطائفية والمناطقية والقبلية وغير ذلك الأمر الذي أدى إلى تفكك المجتمع.

واستغلت السلطات الحاكمة هذا التفكك وعملت على ترسيخ الانقسام بين أبناء الشعب للسيطرة عليه ولضمان الاستمرار في الحكم. وتكمن أهم معالم الفرقة بين أبناء الشعب في التمييز بين الجنسين وبين الطوائف الدينية وكذلك في التفرقة على أساس الانتماء العرقي وتفضيل المواطنين الذين ينحدرون من مناطق معينة على غيرهم من أبناء المناطق الأخرى.

وكشف بيان وزارة الداخلية الأخير بشأن أحداث العوامية طائفية بعض الكتاب الليبراليين الذين أيدوا البيان الطائفي ضد الأقلية الشيعية وشككوا في ولاء المتظاهرين الشيعة ووطنيتهم واتهموا كل مؤيد لمطالبهم بعدم الولاء للدولة.

لقد أعطى البيان الضوء الأخضر للطائفيين والمتطرفين لكي يتصدو لكل من يعارض سياسات الدولة التمييزية وكل من يطالب بالمساواة بين أبناء الشعب وبالعدالة وبالحرية الدينية وبحرية التعبير وبإطلاق سراح سجناء الرأي والضمير.

كان حريا بمن انتقدوا المتظاهرين وأتهموهم بالولاء لجهات خارجية بالبحث عن الأسباب الحقيقية التي دفعت المتظاهرين للتظاهر خاصة وأن المطالب التي رفعها المتظاهرون تصب في مصلحة الوطن وجميع أبناء الشعب.

إن أمام السلطات السعودية فرصة ثمينة لإثبات رغبتها في الإصلاح إن أرادت فعلا تجاوز الربيع العربي والحفاظ على استقرار حقيقي من خلال البدء فورا في إصلاحات جذرية وإشراك الشعب في حكم نفسه، فالعدل يقتضي التوزيع العادل للسلطة بين فئات المجتمع لتفادي الثورات التي قامت بسبب استئثار فئة معينة بالسلطة والثروة.

Unity Against Justice for Religious Minority

CDHR Commentary: While the Saudi ruling elites, public and media are quick to condemn the West and Israel, among others, for their intolerance and maltreatment of Arabs and Muslims, they treat their own Muslim minorities with disdain. It’s estimated that about one fourth of the Saudi population practices the Shi’a brand of Islam which the Saudi rulers and majority of society consider heretical; therefore its devotees are unworthy of respect and equality. Because of their religious orientation, the Saudi Muslim minority are marginalized, deprived of their country’s wealth, equal opportunities and social justice. Ironically, most of these minorities have lived in and owned (for centuries before the establishment of the Saudi state) the oil rich and strategic region of Saudi Arabia, the economic jugular of the country.

Like any ostracized group of people, the Saudi Shi’a have peacefully tried for decades to draw their government’s and compatriots’ attention to their plight, but to no avail. Not only that, but the more they ask to be treated equally by their autocratic monarchs, the more the system increases its oppression and depiction of this segment of its society as traitors, trouble makers and foreign agents. In addition to marginalizing the Shi’a minority, the regime’s habitual heavy-handedness in arresting and incarcerating peaceful protesters, religious leaders and human rights advocates led members of this disenfranchised group to resort to violence as occurred on October 3, 2011.

In response to governmental agents’ arbitrary arrest of two elderly men on October 2nd with the intent of holding them hostage until their sons who were wanted by the government came forward. Tragically, one of the innocent fathers had a heart attack while in Saudi police custody. In response to this unjustified arrest and many other such arbitrary governmental actions, a small number of the Shi’a took to the streets the next day and reportedly resorted to violence against the security forces.

Unfortunately, many segments of Saudi society including the Shura Council, religious scholars and some media outlets not only condemned the protesters, but “…urged the government to confront such troublemakers with an iron hand.” That so many segments of Saudi society would support their autocratic government continuing discriminatory policy against and oppression of their compatriots because of religious diversity demonstrates the hypocrisy and true nature of the Saudi system and its dangerous policy of dividing society along religious lines.

The question that should be asked is whether the Saudi government is targeting the Shi’a minority because they are heretics threatening the established order and national security or are there other motivations behind the government’s actions? One of the widely known Saudi-Wahhabi tools used to control the population is dividing society along religious, regional, gender and ethnic lines. However, since Iran’s rise to regional prominence during the last three decades and ongoing Revolt against Arab dictators, the Saud regime has become not only more anxious over its influence among Muslims and within the international community but over its very survival.

Having witnessed the West’s support for anti-authoritarian movements in the Arab World, the autocratic Saudi monarchy has become less trusting of Western governments’ commitment to protect it from internal and external threats as they have done for eighty years. In spite of this, the monarchy knows that the economically desperate West would do whatever it takes to prevent any disruption of the production and shipment of Saudi and other Gulf States’ oil, including military action against any forces that threaten the oil supply which the Saudi government has successfully linked to it survival. Is it possible that the Saudi government is provoking its Shi’a minority into committing violent actions which can then be blamed on Iran in the hope that the West will attack that quarrelsome country to pre-empt further instability in the Saudi oil fields, when in fact the Saudi objectives are to eliminate its primary competitor in the Gulf, to insure the continuity of the Saudi monarchy and to assure Saudi led Sunni dominance in the Muslim World?

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article512845.ece

Shoura members, scholars denounce Qatif riots

By ARAB NEWS

Published: Oct 6, 2011 23:07 Updated: Oct 6, 2011 23:07

JEDDAH: Saudi religious scholars and Shoura Council members have strongly denounced Monday’s Awamiya riots by a group of people in the Eastern Province city of Qatif, and urged the government to confront such troublemakers with an iron hand.

Suleiman Al-Zayedi, a member of the Shoura, urged the people of Awamiya not to engage in any activity that would undermine the Kingdom’s security and safety, incited by foreign forces.

“You should not work as tools of spiteful people and those who target our security, be they foreign individuals or organizations or governments,” Al-Zayedi said and urged citizens to prevent such riots.

“The reply for such excesses and violations should come from citizens before the government, because every citizen has a responsibility to protect their nation from harm,” he said and urged the government to punish the rioters in accordance with the Shariah law.

According to a Saudi Press Agency report, 14 people including 11 security officers were injured in the incident. Nine policemen were shot and wounded and two hurt by petrol bombs, the report said, adding that a man and two women were injured by gunfire.

The Interior Ministry said the troublemakers in Qatif were acting at the behest of a foreign country “which tried to undermine the nation’s security in a blatant act of interference.” The ministry urged the troublemakers in the city to prove their loyalty to the nation.

Majdi Hariri, another Shoura member, said such acts of sabotage would not affect the Kingdom’s national unity. “It indicates that foreign forces are trying to undermine the Kingdom’s security and unity,” he added. Sheikh Aazib Al-Misbal, chairman of the Islamic Affairs Committee at the Shoura, said the riots that took place in Awamiya were unacceptable and urged the government to take strong action against saboteurs.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah and a professor at Umm Al-Qura University, condemned the Awamiya riots, describing them as “criminal and disruptive acts.” He said Islam prohibits the killing of innocent and peaceful people and destruction of private and public properties.

“What is the objective of these troublemakers and on whose interest they are acting?” the imam asked and called for greater efforts to promote Islamic values and tackle contradictions in Muslim societies.

A number of Islamic preachers, academics and ordinary people in Qatif have expressed their anguish over the Awamiya incident. “Those who took part in rioting do not represent Qatif people,” said Abdulhaleem Al-Kaidar, district chief (umda) of Tarout.

The Tehran Theocratic Mullahs’ Loathing for “The Great Satan” and Its Saudi “Puppets”

The Tehran Theocratic Mullahs’ Loathing for “The Great Satan” and Its Saudi “Puppets”

By Ali Alyami

There is nothing that the theocratic Mullahs in Tehran would rather do than tarnish the absolute Saudi monarchy’s image and render insignificant its leadership among Muslims and within the international community. It is a well-known fact that these last two tyrannical Muslim regimes are competing for Arab and Muslim leadership in the hope of securing global recognition and legitimacy for their draconian rule at home. In addition, the cruel Iranian regime will stop at nothing to drive a bigger wedge between the absolute Saudi monarchs and their most important protecting ally, the US. However, plotting to attack the Saudi embassy in Washington and kill its hundreds of personnel including King Abdullah’s yes-man ambassador will back fire in a way even the vicious Iranian regime is not suicidal enough to undertake.

The similarities between the autocratic and theocratic regime in Tehran and their counterparts in Riyadh are well known. They are anti-democracy, anti-women, anti-non-Muslims, anti-human rights and share a common objective of ridding Arab and Muslim countries of Western influence so they can continue to oppress their people in the name of God and Shariah law. Both foster, export and finance extremist and terrorist groups in order to spread their influence and extract concessions from Western governments as the Saudis did with Britain regarding Arms Sales’ bribery in 2008. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/15/bae.armstrade).

Knowing that Tehran’s despots and their counterparts in Riyadh are brimming with hate for the US and Israel as well as for each other, it should not be surprising, albeit unlikely in this case, that someone in Tehran would attempt to hire assassins to hit a small Saudi target, especially in the West. The theocrats in Tehran are vying for a leading role among Muslims; and bullying their Saudi competitors along with their US ally would enhance the image of the Iranian regime among many Muslims regardless of religious differences.

Like the Saudi royals (recall King Abdullah's urging President Obama to "cut the head of the snake”), the tyrannical regime in Tehran wants to drag the US and/or Israel into a prolonged war in an Arab or Muslim country so it can convince the rest of the mostly poverty stricken and marginalized Muslims of the “Crusaders’ war” against Islam and Muslims.

Even harsh critics of Arab and Muslim ruling hooligans’ politics and practices would find the Justice Department’s alleged Iranian escapade to be unconvincing, especially at a time when the Iranian regime knows misbehaving could generate a crippling military response by a combination of regional and international coalitions. The Tehran theocrats are vicious, but not suicidal.

ما لا يقال عن أحداث العوامية بالمنطقة الشرقية في السعودية

تحليل مركز الديمقراطية وحقوق الإنسان – واشنطن

في الثالث من شهر اكتوبر الجاري شهدت بلدة العوامية بمحافظة القطيف في المنطقة الشرقية احتجاجات واسعة وصلت إلى حد الاشتباك بين المحتجين ورجال الأمن. وتحظى المنطقة الشرقية الغنية بالنفط باهتمام عالمي لاعتماد أجزاء كبيرة من العالم على النفط الذي يتم انتاجه وتصديره من هناك. وهذه ليست هي المرة الأولى التي يحتج فيها المواطنون الشيعة الذين يعانون من الفقر والتهميش والإقصاء والحرمان من كل حقوقهم الشرعية بسبب معتقدهم الديني.

والسؤال الذي يطرح نفسه هو: ماهي العوامل التي دفعت أولئك الشباب إلى التظاهر واستخدام الأسلحة ضد رجال الأمن؟

إن ما يدفع المواطنين من أبناء الطائفة الشيعية إلى الاحتجاج والتظاهر ليس جهات خارجية كما تدعي السلطات السعودية وإنما معاناتهم من التمييز الديني ومن القمع الذي تمارسه السلطات ضدهم. وقد أكدت تقارير منظمات حقوق الإنسان حول العالم مرارا أن الأقلية الشيعية تتعرض للاضطهاد والتمييز والتضييق بسبب معتقدهم الديني وأن الكثير من رجال الدين الشيعة ونشطاء حقوق الإنسان يتعرضون للاعتقال باستمرار بسبب انتقادهم واعتراضهم على السياسات التي تنتهجها السلطات السعودية ضدهم ولمطالبتهم بالحرية الدينية وبالعدالة الاجتماعية والتنمية الاقتصادية والحق في العمل في مرافق الدولة وتقلد المناصب العليا.

لقد دأبت السلطات السعودية على اختلاق الأعذار الواهية للتهرب من مواجهة الواقع والتنصل من تحقيق مطالب الشعب. وكما هو متوقع أتهمت الحكومة السعودية المتظاهرين بالعمل لصالح جهات خارجية تسعى للمساس بأمن الوطن واستقراره.

إن رد السلطات السعودية على الأحداث لا يختلف عن رد سائر الأنظمة القمعية العربية التي اتهمت المتظاهرين بالخيانة والعمل لصالح جهات أجنبية بدلا من الاعتراف بصحة المطالب الحقوقية والشرعية التي ينادي بها الثوار.

إن من الأجدى الاستجابة لمطالب الشعب السعودي والاعتراف بمعاناة الأقلية الشيعية بصفة خاصة بدلا من لوم الآخرين، فقد ثبت فشل سياسة توجيه أصابع الاتهام لجهات خارجية التي استخدمتها كل الأنظمة الدكتاتورية العربية، كما فشلت سياسة القمع التي مارستها تلك الأنظمة ضد شعوبها.

إن اتهام السلطات السعودية للمتظاهرين بالعمل لصالح جهات أجنبية كما جاء في بيان وزارة الداخلية هو دعوة للفتنة الطائفية وللتفرقة بين عناصر المجتمع. ولا يختلف اتهام السلطات للمحتجين بالعمل لجهات خارجية عن استخدامها للدين والعادات ضد المرأة ولعدم الاستجابة لمطالب الشعب في المشاركة في تقرير مصيره.

لقد اعتمدت العائلة الحاكمة في استمرارها في الحكم على تفرقة المجتمع وضرب بعضه ببعض في صراعات جانبية والتي رسخت العداوات بين طبقات المجتمع وحالت دون اتحاده للمطالبة بحقوقه المشروعة.

والأسئلة التي تطرح نفسها هي:

1- إلى متى تستمر السلطات السعودية في استخفافها بالشعب وفرض وصايتها عليه وكأنه لا يستحق أن يحصل على حقوقه كغيره من الشعوب.

2- وهل سيستفيد النظام السعودي من الثورات العربية ويبدأ بإجراء إصلاحات حقيقية قبل فوات الأوان؟

3- إلا يدفع تعنت السلطات السعودية ورفضها باستمرار الاستجابة للمطالب الشرعية في الحرية والعدالة والمساواة والشفافية وسيادة القانون ووقف الفساد، ألا يدفع ذلك الشعب إلى انتهاج العنف لتحقيق تلك المطالب؟

Saudi-Iranian Competing Autocracies

CDHR Comment: Despite their public pronouncements and overt disputes, the Saudi and Iranian autocracies share the same objectives: to prevent democracy from taking root in their and other Arab and Muslim countries. Their overriding goal is to severely undermine Western democratic influence, especially that of the US, in Arab and Muslim countries. They consider democracy a mortal threat to their oppressive rule. The Saudi and Iranian regimes compete over the hearts and minds of oppressed Muslims, including their own and use whatever they can to outdo each other by painting themselves as the protectors of Islam and Muslims worldwide.

The autocratic Saudi rulers accuse Iran of trying to annex the weak but wealthy Arab States around the Persian Gulf, of drawing the Iraqis to their side and of trying to overpower the Saudis’ Sunni allies in Lebanon as well as in Gaza, Yemen and Afghanistan, among other places. The Iranian theocrats accuse the Saudi monarchs of being American agents and of collaborating with the US against the Palestinians and Muslim interests. In his way home after addressing the UN General Assembly in late September 2011, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited two Sunni Arab states, Mauritania and Sudan. Standing next to Sudan’s President Hassan Al-Bashir, a well-known butcher of his countrymen, women and children, Ahmadinejad promised to stand firm against the US pressures and sanctions, a speech he repeats when visiting Arab and Muslim countries.

Al-Bashir declared, "We will work together to build a relationship based on cooperation and respect and mutual benefits, and we are looking forward to closer cooperation with Iran." In response the Iran delegation declared that Iran is “ready to transfer its experience in the science and manufacturing sectors, especially technical and engineering services, to improve Sudan's infrastructure." Presently, Iran is spending $200 million on different projects in Sudan.

The Saudis see Iran’s increasing influence among some Sunni Muslims as a threat to their dominance in the Greater Middle East. Petrified by the Arab Revolt’s spell over and Iran’s increasing influence in the region, the Saudis are forging alliances with other absolute Arab monarchs and strengthening their bilateral relations with Turkey and Pakistan, two nuclear Sunni Muslim states. These public maneuvers by the Saudi and Iranian despots do not reflect their true intentions and common objectives. They sit side by side at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Cooperate within OPEC and exchange high officials’ visits, in addition to thriving trade, art and cultural exchanges.

Fully cognizant of their unpopularity at home and fear of popular uprising, the Saudi and Iranian theocracies need as many external enemies to blame for their failures at home as they can garner. For this reason alone, they need to blame each other to justify their draconian practices at home and to strengthen their legitimacy regionally as much as they need extremists and terrorists to extract favorable global recognition and support. Ahmadinejad’s recent visit to Mauritania and Sudan (two Sunni Arab states) and Sudan President Hassan Al-Bashir’s support for Iran’s nuclear program are designed to show the Saudi royals that Iran can recruit Arab allies against the Saudi monarchy.

By design or by accident, the Saudi-Iranian feud is contaminating Arab and Muslim attitude toward Western democratic influence in Arab and Muslim countries and communities. Given Saudi and Iranian cooperation within major organizations such as OPEC and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and knowing the devious behavior and practices of these two most theocratic and autocratic regimes, this may not be accidental. Read more
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzA0MTg0MDM2NQ

Terrorism Remains Mortal Threat 10 Years After 9/11/2001

CDHR Commentary: As evidenced by heightened domestic and global warnings of potential terror attacks on the eve of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 (9/11), there is more to terrorism than killing Al-Qaeda’s founder/financier and its deadly senior architects, destroying their infrastructure, and disrupting their communication apparatus. Despite the fact that the US military’s intense and expensive campaign has inflicted quantifiable damage on Al-Qaeda’s personnel, infrastructure and morale since September 11, 2001, Jihadists, their supporters and Muslim autocratic and theocratic beneficiaries will continue to be lethal enemies unless they unequivocally understand that the price they must pay will exponentially outstrip any benefit they may realize.
As documented by a large number of Muslims and non-Muslims, the Saudi doctrine of Wahhabism is a major force behind Jihadists activities throughout the world. Prominent Muslim scholars, politicians, thinkers, writers, analysts, and historians agree that the Saudi-Wahhabi ideology is dangerous to Muslims and non-Muslims. They are imploring the international community to unite and defeat the Wahhabi doctrine. In a public conference in Cairo, Egypt (April 26, 2010) well-known Muslim scholars from the Al-Azhar University (Islam’s oldest and most reputable academic institution) and other researchers and experts in Muslim movements issued a scornful communiqué describing Wahhabism “as an idea and practice is the primary threat to Islam, Muslims and the international community.” (http://watan.com/10/news.html/35-news extra/21652-2010-04-26-20-24-39.html. In a powerful article in the Wall Street Journal in 2006, the revered former president of Indonesia (the most populated and tolerant Muslim state), Mr. Abdulrahman Wahid called on “Muslims and non-Muslims to unite and defeat Wahhabi ideology.” http://www.libforall.org/news-WSJ-right-islam-vs.-wrong-islam.html
One of the strongest condemnations of the Saudi doctrine came from neighboring Kuwait. A well-known and highly respected Kuwaiti writer, Dr. Salem Humaid, wrote an article titled “The Saudi-Wahhabi Ideology” which he described as “the most wicked and ugly thought on the surface of the earth.” (http://www.soqalshiyookh.com/home/news.php?action=view&id=904)
Closer to home, a former Saudi cleric extremist, Mansour Nogaidan, realized while in prison that the Wahhabi doctrine is the source of terrorism. He not only turned against what he was brainwashed into promoting, defending, and dying for, but actively sought to get rid of it. “The most recent government crackdown on terrorism suspects, in response to this month's {in 2003} car-bombing of a compound housing foreigners and Arabs in Riyadh, is missing the real target. The real problem is that Saudi Arabia is bogged down by deep-rooted Islamic extremism in most schools and mosques, which have become breeding grounds for terrorists. We cannot solve the terrorism problem as long as it is endemic to our educational and religious institutions.” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7D6143AF93BA15752C1A9659C8B63.
These glaring warnings and repeated appeals from prominent Muslims to the international community to defeat the pervasive Saudi-Wahhabi doctrine are a clear call for decisive responses. However, the West, which is the target of the Islamist threats, has yet to accept that it’s engaged in a war with an Islamist ideology dedicated to the destruction of Western Civilization. It’s not the intent of this writer to advocate a war with Muslims, but to underscore this threat and to highlight the need for policies and actions on the part of Western democracies to insure the eradication of the major root cause of terrorism, the Saudi-Wahhabi ideology. Occasional drone strikes and diplomatic appeasement will only lead the terrorists, their financiers and beneficiaries to believe that the West is weak and vulnerable, thus encouraging them to escalate their terror attacks.
The most effective and direct tactic to confront the root cause of terrorism as advocated by prominent and knowledgeable people who have experienced and understand the nature and underpinnings of Wahhabism is to eradicate it at its source. This effort will not only require the autocratic and theocratic Saudi elites to re-interpret the Quran and the Shariah law to reflect modern values-globalization, technological advancement, women’s rights, tolerance of other faiths, international declarations on human rights, freedom of choice and expressions-but must terminate the Saudi ideological influence worldwide. Saudi text books must be rewritten to reflect these contemporary interpretations and scientific advancement. In addition, Saudi religious, educational and judicial institutions must be transformed from the top down in order to stop the spread of the deadly Wahhabi ideology.
Some argue that King Abdullah has made changes to rein in extremist activities. King Abdullah has removed a few clerics and some inflammatory phrases from Saudi schools’ text books, eliminated some terrorists in Saudi Arabia and convened interfaith dialogues. While these activities are considered reforms by some, especially in the West, others see them as deceptive window dressing to silence foreign and domestic critics of the debauched Saudi state- imposed doctrine, Wahhabism.
In reality, under King Abdullah’s leadership, Islamist religious fervor has been heightened as a result of implicit and explicit Saudi accusations that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. He has strengthened the Saudi clerics by making it illegal to criticize them domestically and has united Muslim countries, including Iran and Turkey, through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which consists of 57 states and is headquartered in Saudi Arabia. Spread of Wahhabism throughout the world has been exponentially intensified under King Abdullah more than under any of his predecessors