The
national flag of Saudi Arabia (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)
A US Senate
subcommittee has discovered that British banking giant HSBC gave money to a
Saudi bank with suspected links to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda.
Saudi Arabia has not responded to the findings.
Middle East
expert Ali Rizk told RT that the findings put pressure on the West to
reconsider its friendly relations with Saudi Arabia.
A report
published by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations states that HSBC
provided funds to the Saudi Al-Rajhi Bank, which a number of media and
government reports have tied to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. The
company’s top executive appeared before the subcommittee’s hearing Tuesday, and
apologized for failing to prevent such oversights. HSBC’s Head of Compliance,
David Bagley, said he would resign.
Neither
Saudi Arabia, nor Al-Rajhi responded to the subcommittee’s findings, however.
RT: The
report names Al-Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia’s and the Muslim world largest bank,
as a sponsor of terrorism. What does that mean?
Ali Rizk: I
think it really stems down to the fact that Saudi Arabia is the main exporter
of what could be called radical Islam, the kind of Islam that has tarnished the
essence of the real Islam of moderation.
RT: What
sort of terrorist groups are we talking about here?
AR: We’re
talking about Wahhabi extremists, those people who are now causing violence in
Syria, those people who were sent to Chechnya, groups in Uzbekistan. Some
elements of the royal family also have also contributed to al-Qaeda. Bandar bin
Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to Washington, for example, met with Osama
bin Laden time and again. So we’re talking about all the Sunni extremists
groups. The Saudi role in financing al-Qaeda and extremist activity in Iraq is
very well known. More importantly, I think that this report further sheds light
on the alliance between the Saudi royal family and some Western countries. This
will put more pressure on the Western governments to try and change their
policy. Now, of course, Saudi Arabia is considered to be an ally. Many people
are speculating that maybe the Western governments might reconsider.
RT: Why
would they be doing that?
AR: First
of all, because we have the uprisings currently happening, which put more
pressure on the US and British governments. Until now, Saudi Arabia hasn’t
taken any steps towards political reform. The other reason is that Saudi Arabia
is the main source of this extremism that would lead to popular vigilance in countries
such as the US and Britain. In all these countries, I think people will become
more and more aware of what Saudi Arabia really represents, and hence the US
might be pushed into a corner. By the way, Hillary Clinton recently said that
they are fighting Wahhabism, so I think we are seeing a slow divergence between
the West on the one hand and Saudi Arabia on the other. It hasn’t reached a
very critical point as of yet, but I believe this report and more similar
developments would put more pressure on the US and other Western
governments.
RT: Do you
expect any reaction from Riyadh on the report’s findings?
AR: I don’t
think that we will see any apology. Saudi Arabia, I think, is behaving in an
irrational way now. Saudi Arabia is terrified of what happened in Iraq; the
Shia there with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In Lebanon, you have Hezbollah
and increasing Iranian influence. And for that reason, Saudi Arabia is so
enthusiastic to topple Bashar al-Assad because they consider him an asset for
the Shia axis. I think what we are seeing in Damascus today is a Saudi Arabian
response to an increasing Iranian role.
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