Trump CIA Pompeo honors Saudi Crown Prince for efforts against terrorism

February 11, 2017 By administrator

The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh. (SPA)

The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, received a medal on Friday from the CIA for his distinct intelligence-related counter-terrorism work and his contributions to ensure international peace and security.

The medal, named after George Tenet, was handed to him by CIA Director Micheal Pompeo after the Crown Prince received him in Riyadh on Friday in the presence of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

The Crown Prince said in a press statement after receiving the medal that he appreciated the CIA honor, stressing that his efforts were guided by the leaders of Saudi Arabia headed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, as well as the efforts of the Kingdom’s security forces.

With regards to terrorism in the region, the Crown Prince said all religions are separate from the beliefs and actions of extremist groups, noting that religious, political and social groups who have used religion as a tool throughout history do not reflect the absolute truths about the religion which it is affiliated to, or attributes its actions to.

He said Saudi Arabia has played a key role in the fight against terrorism and condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism. “We, God willing, continue to confront terrorism and extremism everywhere, and with thanks to God we have managed to thwart many terrorist plots from occurring,” he said.

The Crown Prince also stressed that the fight against terrorism is a shared international responsibility that requires international efforts at all levels to confront it militarily and intellectually, as well as financially. This must be done within the framework of international law and the principles of the United Nations.

With regards to the relations between Saudi Arabia and the US, the Crown Prince said: “Our relationship with the United States is historical and will continue to succeed.”

Addressing the issue of possible future attacks, the Crown Prince said: “We are surrounded by areas of conflict, and we were the first affected by terrorism from various sources, but we are equipped to combat terror in any place and under any circumstances.”

During his meeting with Pompeo, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef discussed a number of topics of common interest between the two countries and ways of enhancing them, particularly with regard to strengthening cooperation in security, especially the fight against terrorism.

The reception was attended by senior, civil and military, officials and the US Charge d’Affaires to the Kingdom Christopher Hensel.

source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/02/10/CIA-awards-Saudi-Crown-Prince-for-efforts-against-terrorism-.html

Saudis hire former US lawmaker Rep. Howard to lobby and secure arms deals

November 24, 2016 By administrator

Saudi Arabia has reportedly hired a powerful former US lawmaker to lobby White House and Congress during president-elect Donald Trump’s tenure on allowing arms sales to the kingdom.

Riyadh added heavyweight former California Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon to its already formidable team of lobbyists at a time when US lawmakers seek to block arms sale to Saudi Arabia over its war on Yemen.

Saudi Arabia is under fire for human rights abuses in its two-year military campaign against Yemen, where US-made planes have bombed hospitals, schools and key infrastructure.

Over the summer, 64 US lawmakers signed a letter decrying the sale of cluster munitions to the kingdom, and in September, a bipartisan coalition nearly blocked a multi-billion dollar sale of tanks and other military equipment to the Saudi regime.

Between 2011 and 2015, the longtime GOP lawmaker was the chair of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon and its multibillion dollar foreign-military sales program to Saudi Arabia.

According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, McKeon was among the top five recipients of defense contractor money in the US House of Representatives.

McKeon is expected to push for continuity in the US-Saudi relationship amid the transfer of power from Barack Obama to Trump.

On his registration form, McKeon indicated he would “provide consulting and government relations counsel” and that he would “undertake specific advocacy requests with regard to legislative and public policy matters.”

McKeon also joins the Saudi lobby at a key moment when the Saudi regime has been hiring a fleet of firms to try to undo the law letting 9/11 victims’ families sue for its alleged connection to the attackers.

The September 11 attacks in the US which killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage.

US officials assert that the attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists but many experts have raised questions about the official account. They believe that rogue elements within the US government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.

Analysts argue that Saudi Arabia only played a minor role in 9/11, but the operation was essentially carried out by Israeli and American intelligence agencies to destroy seven countries deemed enemies to Israel in five years.

By signing on as a Saudi lobbyist, McKeon will be lobbying his former colleagues to keep arming Saudi Arabia at a time of uncertainty for the US-Saudi alliance. Amid the transfer of power from Barack Obama to Trump, McKeon is expected to push for continuity in the US-Saudi relationship.

His years of experience on the House Armed Services Committee would put him in a privileged position to push Congress to continue to allow arms sales to Saudi Arabia, said Seth Binder, program manager for Security Assistance Monitor.

US arms sales continue “despite the growing concern over the increasing number of possible human rights violations committed by the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing in Yemen,” Binder added.

Iraqi PM Abadi urges Ankara, Riyadh to avoid meddling in Iraq affairs

October 22, 2016 By administrator

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called on Turkey and Saudi Arabia to stop interfering in the domestic affairs of his country, which is engaged in a campaign against the Daesh terrorist group.

“We want the good of Saudi Arabia and Turkey provided that they do not interfere in the domestic affairs of our country,” he told a forum of Muslim scholars and politicians in Baghdad Saturday.

The opening of the 9th session of the Supreme Council of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening in the Iraqi capital coincided with the country’s ongoing push to retake its second city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

Turkey is adamantly insisting that it wants to play a military role in the Mosul recapture despite Iraq’s opposition, triggering a serious diplomatic row between the two neighbors.

Ankara has deployed troops to a base near Mosul, claiming that they were there to train Kurdish militants for the battle against Daesh.

Abadi said Turkey had sent troops without the Iraqi government’s request, adding Ankara is not battling Daesh but is trying to expand its outreach. Ankara, he said, did not help Baghdad when it was requested.

In the run-up to the Mosul operation, Saudi Arabia replaced its ambassador to Baghdad, who had repeatedly drawn the ire of Iraqi leaders for his meddling remarks. The kingdom downgraded its representation to the charge d’affaires level.

Without naming any country, Prime Minister Abadi said there are countries that support terrorism for their own benefits while others are seeking to sow sectarian discord.

“Daesh did not come to existence overnight. Certain sides used to support the group,” he said.

Takfiri terrorists, he said, do not distinguish between Shia and Sunni Muslims or abide by any principles, adding they are trying to sow sectarian divisions.

Abadi said Iraq is capable enough to counter Daesh and terrorism, calling on the country to remain united. “We will hopefully fight and defeat the Takfiri terrorism,” the prime minister added.

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, who is a Sunni Muslim, accused terrorists of attempting to spread their radical ideas in the name of religion.

He called for a meeting with the participation of Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to address their disputes, saying Muslim countries must take measures to counter terrorism.

Islamic Awakening alive despite hurdles

Speaking at the summit, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said that the Islamic Awakening movement enjoys public support and continues to thrive despite obstacles and challenges in its way.

“Today, abundant opportunities have arisen in the region and Muslims are obligated to continue down their path with Islamic Awakening against the Takfiri ideology,” Velayati said.

Five years since the beginning of the wave of Islamic Awakening, enemies and opponents have practically failed to stop the movement even through creating Takfiri groups and hatching plots for partitioning countries, the Iranian official said.

He further slammed the Saudi regime for its covert role in all crises in the region, from Syria and Iraq to those in Yemen, Libya and elsewhere.

Saudi Wahhabism is using its petrodollars to sow discord in the Muslim world, he added.

Under an enemy plot, Muslim countries in the region have today been occupied with issues such as Daesh and Takfiri terrorism so the occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli regime would no longer be their priority, the official pointed out.

Velayati called for a return to true principles and values of the holy religion of Islam as the sole way out of regional problems.

New Clinton email reveals direct support for ISIS from two powerful Western allies

October 12, 2016 By administrator

clinton-saudi By (The canary)

A new Hillary Clinton email published by WikiLeaks as part of the ongoing release of hacked campaign files confirms that Daesh (Isis/Isil) has state backing. And from powerful Western allies, no less.

Anti-terrorism analysts have long seen Daesh as a non-state-affiliated actor which grew out of an al-Qaeda insurgency in Iraq (and later Syria). But the email sent by Clinton herself (dated 27 September 2014) shows there’s much more to the story.

Secret support for Daesh

The lengthy email contains a summary assessment of proposed US policy plans in Iraq and Syria. This is based on what the email internally describes as Western and US intelligence sources. Most of the document lays out strategies for pushing Daesh back in the Middle East.

But one section bluntly describes Western allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar as direct supporters of Daesh (“ISIL” in this email):

We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region… The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure. [emphasis added]

Intelligence authorship

Clinton herself sent the 2014 email directly from her personal account to campaign chairman John Podesta. But the intelligence content has the look and style of Sidney Blumenthal’s authorship. Blumenthal is a long-time top Clinton advisor who has provided many such sensitive intelligence briefings to Clinton, even when she was Secretary of State.

It appears that Clinton either copied or forwarded the intelligence briefing which was the basis for the short exchange with Podesta.

Both the arsonists and firefighters

The New York Times recently described Saudi Arabia as both “the arsonists and firefighters” in the Middle East. This is because the controversial kingdom clamps down on terrorism at home, while promoting its version of Wahhabi ultra-conservatism abroad.

Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Britain and the US goes back decades, as the oil-rich nation entered into an ‘oil for security‘ pact with the West which can be traced to the US Carter administration, and even to Franklin D. Roosevelt. As such, it has spanned both Republican and Democratic administrations in the USA. And it has meant that the West has routinely looked the other way as the Saudi regime exports extremism, funding a large number of radical mosques and organisations around the world.

Beginning in 1979, the West actively sponsored the rise of a mujahideen army in central Asia in partnership with the Saudis to fight against Soviet troops. Historians view the current US/UK-Saudi covert intervention in Syria as a parallel situation to that of Afghanistan in the 1980s. More recently, the Gulf kingdom has negotiated record-breaking weapons deals with the UK.

Clinton email confirms claims by other intelligence sources

In Syria, the West and Saudi Arabia have supported a jihadist insurgency which seeks to topple the Assad government. Leaked documents provided to The Washington Post by Edward Snowden confirmed a CIA covert Syria programme which costs $1bn per year. The secret programme, given the name Timber Sycamore, has involved close coordination with the Saudis and other Gulf regimes like Qatar.

Moreover, a 2012 Pentagon intelligence report (declassified in 2015) predicted that “an Islamic state” would arise out of the Western/Gulf covert program which sought to overthrow the Syrian government. The White House allegedly knew about the secret report. And it was widely circulated within the intelligence community. It specifically names “the West” and “Gulf Countries” as the prime movers backing the jihadist insurgency in Syria.

In short, analysts have long acknowledged indirect Saudi support of Daesh. But Clinton’s email is the first known intelligence memo which spells out direct Saudi support of the Wahhabi terror group.

This leaked email alone should cause the media and Western governments to demand a radical reevaluation of the West’s priorities in the Middle East.

Read More on: http://www.thecanary.co/2016/10/11/new-clinton-email-reveals-direct-support-for-isis-from-two-powerful-western-allies/

Saudi ex-spy chief linked to al-Qaeda operative engaged in 9/11 attacks

August 7, 2016 By administrator

Former Saudi Ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan (R) with former US President George W. Bush

Former Saudi intelligence chief and long-time Ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan has been linked to an al-Qaeda operative by the co-chair of a recent US probe into the 9/11 terror incidents.

The recently declassified part of the 9/11 report regarding suspected Saudi ties to some of the hijackers involved in the terror events revealed that a phone log maintained by an alleged senior al-Qaeda operative, identified as Abu Zubaydah, included the unlisted phone number of a Colorado company associated with Bandar as well as the phone number of a bodyguard working at the Saudi Embassy in Washington at the time, CNN reported Friday.

The company in Aspen, Colorado used to manage Prince Bandar’s estate in the Western US state.

“Both of those numbers were unpublished, so they had to have gotten into Zubaydah’s phone book through a personal contact who knew what those numbers were and what they represented,” said former Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the congressional commission that compiled the 28 pages of the 9/11 report that remained secret until its release last month.

Although both US intelligence agencies, the CIA and FBI, concluded that there was no evidence that anyone from the Saudi royal family knowingly provided support for the 9/11 attacks, Graham insisted that connection between Zubaydah’s contact list and the company associated with the senior Saudi official was “one of the most stunning parts of the investigation” and worthy of further investigation.

Bandar served as the Saudi ambassador to the US from 1983 to 2005, during the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He later served as secretary general of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council and the head of the kingdom’s General Intelligence Presidency, the equivalent of the CIA, until last year.

Bandar “is probably the most effective ambassador in Washington ever. Full stop,” said former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel. “He was highly regarded by every president.”

The senior Saudi official was known to have the closest relationship with George H. W. Bush, in part due to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in the 1990 Persian Gulf War, in which Riyadh viewed the Iraqi aggression as a threat and supported the subsequent US military action.

“Bandar was in the Bush White House, I would say, every other day and in some periods every day. It was a very, very close relationship,” Riedel added. “And I think the president and Bandar genuinely liked each other.”

Saudi authorities have denied allegations on their involvement in the September 2001 incidents in which nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks were Saudi nationals.

source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/08/07/478834/US-Saudi-Arabia-Prince-Bandar-bin-Sultan-911-commission-Senator-Bob-Graham-alQaeda-operative

WikiLeaks: Buying Silence: How the Saudi Foreign Ministry controls Arab media

July 30, 2016 By administrator

The Saudi Cables

Cables and other documents from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On Monday, Saudi Arabia celebrated the beheading of its 100th prisoner this year. The story was nowhere to be seen on Arab media despite the story’s circulation on wire services. Even international media was relatively mute about this milestone compared to what it might have been if it had concerned a different country. How does a story like this go unnoticed?

Today’s release of the WikiLeaks “Saudi Cables” from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs show how it’s done.

The oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its ruling family take a systematic approach to maintaining the country’s positive image on the international stage. Most world governments engage in PR campaigns to fend off criticism and build relations in influential places. Saudi Arabia controls its image by monitoring media and buying loyalties from Australia to Canada and everywhere in between.

Documents reveal the extensive efforts to monitor and co-opt Arab media, making sure to correct any deviations in regional coverage of Saudi Arabia and Saudi-related matters. Saudi Arabia’s strategy for co-opting Arab media takes two forms, corresponding to the “carrot and stick” approach, referred to in the documents as “neutralisation” and “containment”. The approach is customised depending on the market and the media in question.

“Contain” and “Neutralise”

The initial reaction to any negative coverage in the regional media is to “neutralise” it. The term is used frequently in the cables and it pertains to individual journalists and media institutions whose silence and co-operation has been bought. “Neutralised” journalists and media institutions are not expected to praise and defend the Kingdom, only to refrain from publishing news that reflects negatively on the Kingdom, or any criticism of its policies. The “containment” approach is used when a more active propaganda effort is required. Journalists and media institutions relied upon for “containment” are expected not only to sing the Kingdom’s praises, but to lead attacks on any party that dares to air criticisms of the powerful Gulf state.

One of the ways “neutralisation” and “containment” are ensured is by purchasing hundreds or thousands of subscriptions in targeted publications. These publications are then expected to return the favour by becoming an “asset” in the Kingdom’s propaganda strategy. A document listing the subscriptions that needed renewal by 1 January 2010 details a series of contributory sums meant for two dozen publications in Damascus, Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Kuwait, Amman and Nouakchott. The sums range from $500 to 9,750 Kuwaiti Dinars ($33,000). The Kingdom effectively buys reverse “shares” in the media outlets, where the cash “dividends” flow the opposite way, from the shareholder to the media outlet. In return Saudi Arabia gets political “dividends” – an obliging press.

An example of these co-optive practices in action can be seen in an exchange between the Saudi Foreign Ministry and its Embassy in Cairo. On 24 November 2011 Egypt’s Arabic-language broadcast station ONTV hosted the Saudi opposition figure Saad al-Faqih, which prompted the Foreign Ministry to task the embassy with inquiring into the channel. The Ministry asked the embassy to find out how “to co-opt it or else we must consider it standing in the line opposed to the Kingdom’s policies“.

The document reports that the billionaire owner of the station, Naguib Sawiris, did not want to be “opposed to the Kingdom’s policies” and that he scolded the channel director, asking him “never to host al-Faqih again”. He also asked the Ambassador if he’d like to be “a guest on the show”.

The Saudi Cables are rife with similar examples, some detailing the figures and the methods of payment. These range from small but vital sums of around $2000/year to developing country media outlets – a figure the Guinean News Agency “urgently needs” as “it would solve many problems that the agency is facing” – to millions of dollars, as in the case of Lebanese right-wing television station MTV.

Confrontation

The “neutralisation” and “containment” approaches are not the only techniques the Saudi Ministry is willing to employ. In cases where “containment” fails to produce the desired effect, the Kingdom moves on to confrontation. In one example, the Foreign Minister was following a Royal Decree dated 20 January 2010 to remove Iran’s new Arabic-language news network, Al-Alam, from the main Riyadh-based regional communications satellite operator, Arabsat. After the plan failed, Saud Al Faisal sought to “weaken its broadcast signal“.

The documents show concerns within the Saudi administration over the social upheavals of 2011, which became known in the international media as the “Arab Spring”. The cables note with concern that after the fall of Mubarak, coverage of the upheavals in Egyptian media was “being driven by public opinion instead of driving public opinion”. The Ministry resolved “to give financial support to influential media institutions in Tunisia“, the birthplace of the “Arab Spring”.

The cables reveal that the government employs a different approach for its own domestic media. There, a wave of the Royal hand is all that is required to adjust the output of state-controlled media. A complaint from former Lebanese Prime Minister and Saudi citizen Saad Hariri concerning articles critical of him in the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat and Asharq Al-Awsat newspapers prompted a directive to “stop these type of articles” from the Foreign Ministry.

This is a general overview of the Saudi Foreign Ministry’s strategy in dealing with the media. WikiLeaks’ Saudi Cables contain numerous other examples that form an indictment of both the Kingdom and the state of the media globally.

Source: https://wikileaks.org/saudi-cables/buying-silence

US report hints at Saudi involvement in 9/11 attacks

July 16, 2016 By administrator

The US government has released 28 pages of a congressional report on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which show the Saudi government may have had a hand in the attacks.

“While in the United States, some of the September 11 hijackers were in contact with, and received support or assistance from, individuals who may be connected to the Saudi Government,” reads part of the report released on Friday.

“There is information, primarily from FBI sources, that at least two of those individuals were alleged by some to be Saudi intelligence officers.”

The Joint Inquiry also hints at Saudi Arabia’s support for terrorist activities in the US and other countries, but fails to show its extent.

“In their testimony, neither CIA nor FBI witnesses were able to identify definitively the extent of Saudi support for terrorist activity globally or within the United.”

The report also shows information indicating that “Saudi Government officials in the United States may have other ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has welcomed the release of the pages, saying there is no proof of Saudi involvement in the attacks.

“Since 2002, the 9/11 Commission and several government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, have investigated the contents of the ‘28 Pages’ and have confirmed that neither the Saudi government, nor senior Saudi officials, nor any person acting on behalf of the Saudi government provided any support or encouragement for these attacks,” the Saudi Embassy in Washington said in a statement.

President Barack Obama, under pressure from Congress and the public, announced in April that the secret pages, which have been kept secret since 2002, would be declassified soon.

Former President George W. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, reportedly told the commission that they would not be formally interviewed in relation to the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage.

source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/07/15/475365/US-911-attack-Saudi-Arabia

The exclusion of Davutoglu – The Battle of Turkish-Saudi intelligence “was he Saudi Agent”

May 24, 2016 By administrator

Three months ago the Turkish news site, Diriliş Postası, which is managed by Hakan Albayrak (a close associate of Erdogan) has publicized an article remained online just for a few minutes.
The article discusses a scenario of Ahmet Davutoglu as a secret Saudi Arabia agent in Turkey.

The article’s title is “Who is Davutoglu”, it has pointed out the biography of Davutoglu and his studying abroad. According to this article, when Davutoğlu was studying in Malaysia he was being spurted financially by some Saudi Arabia institutions to continue his studying and, in a short time, a change in his economic life has happened.

Since he returned to his homeland, he founded a scientific institution of art in a great place in Istanbul. This institution costs billion dollars, and after that, he became a big capitalist who owns library, bank, and shopping centers.

The famous political analyst, Fouad Awni, who has a great relationship with “Mitt Turkey” has indicated the same scenario in his article, he said, “According to the opinion of President Erdogan, no place for Davutoğlu in Foundation Presidency of the Republic of Turkey”

In his article, Awni has emphasized that meetings are taking place in Erdogan’s palace in order to study ways to get rid of Davutoglu where he was asked him to resign because the Government of the shade “Gülen group” owns exact documentation incriminate Davutoğlu but no one’s interested in disclosing them.

After carrying out changes in the constitution drafting committee by Davutoğlu against the Directives of Erdogan of expansion his control of the Middle East and continue the political competition with Saudi Arabia, Erdogan has removed Davutoğlu from his place as a prime minister and the head of the ruling party in Turkey to save the regional Turkey’s efforts. On the other hand, Davutoğlu is trying to separate himself from Erdogan after getting information of the closeness of Erdogan’s departure.

Source: veteranstoday

Saudi, Turkey, Qatar behind dangerous escalation: Syria

May 24, 2016 By administrator

Syria has written to to the United Nations, blaming Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar for Monday terrorist bombings which killed at leas 154 people in the coastal cities of in Tartous and Jableh.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the United Nations, saying the blasts are a “dangerous escalation by the hostile and extremist regimes in Riyadh, Ankara and Doha.”

The letter said the three countries seek to derail UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva and frustrate efforts to stop bloodshed in Syria as well as undermine “remarkable achievements” of the Syrian army against terrorists.

The ministry said the Security Council’s inaction in the face of “heinous crimes being perpetrated by foreign-sponsored terrorist groups across Syria has emboldened those regimes that support terrorism to deploy their terrorist pawns to Syria.”

The letter also criticized Britain, France and the US over their refusal to label Jaysh al-Islam and al-Qaeda-affiliated Ahrar al-Sham as terrorist groups, saying the approach speaks to their lack of seriousness in fighting terrorism.

Bombings and terrorist attacks, the letter said, will not dent Syria’s determination to combat terrorism.

It urged the UN Security Council to adopt immediate punitive measures against the states that sponsor terrorism and undermine international peace and security.

More than 300 people were also wounded in the Monday attacks in the Mediterranean coastal cities, some of them critically, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Lebanese Hezbollah movement condemned the deadly bombings in a statement, saying they called for a clear and resolute stance against regional and global powers supporting terrorism.

“These genocides, which are being carried out by Takfiri groups with backing and support by international secret services and with a cover by well-known Arab officials and countries, are the result of a dark ideology that aims to spread fear and chaos in our Arab and Muslim societies.”

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. Damascus says Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are the main supporters of the militants fighting the government forces.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian crisis.

Washington: Saudi has lobbyists to confront 9/11 bill: Report

April 20, 2016 By administrator

Saudi Arabia has an army of Washington lobbyists to deploy as it tries to stop US Congress from passing legislation that could expose the country to litigation over the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a report says.

According to The Hill newspaper, which is published by Capitol Hill Publishing and covers congressional news, the kingdom employs a total of eight American firms that perform lobbying, consulting, public relations and legal work.

Five of the firms work for the Saudi Arabia embassy, while another two have registered to represent the Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court, an arm of the government, it said.

PR giant Edelman, meanwhile, is working for the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority to encourage international investment, the paper added.

If signed into law, the act would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government for any role it may have had in the attacks.

Riyadh has threatened to sell off USD 750 billion in American assets held by Saudi Arabia if the bill is passed. The selling of the assets would prevent them from being frozen by US courts if American victims are enabled to sue Saudi Arabia.

The White House has, however, indicated that Obama, who is currently on a trip to Riyadh, will veto the legislation if it is passed.

According to The Hill, the hiring spree began early last year when Saudi Arabia signed six K Street firms and added BGR to its roster last month.

The K Street Project is an effort by the Republican Party to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials, an arrangement known as crony capitalism.

BGR Group is a lobbying firm based in Washington DC, three blocks from the White House, and also has an office in London.

According to disclosure records filed to the US Justice Department, Saudi Arabia spent more than $9.4 million on advocacy in Washington for all of 2015.

Separate from the legislative push, members of US Congress are discussing the declassification of 28 pages from the 2002 congressional inquiry that reportedly examined the link between forces in Saudi Arabia and 9/11.

The dispute is causing a diplomatic storm for the Obama administration. Saudi Arabia has long been an ally of the US despite the country’s history of abusing human rights.