Counter-Terrorism - India And The Sinister Saudi Connection

Indian police recently (August 29-September 2) arrested 18 Islamic terrorists in the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Those arrested were charged with belonging to Indian or Pakistan based Islamic terror organizations and planning to kill Indian politicians and journalists, as well as destroying some economic targets. Some of those arrested admitted that they had been assigned to scout Indian nuclear power plants and that some had met with foreign terrorists from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Most of those arrested were Indian-born Moslems, but these men knew of even more radical Indian Moslems who had moved to Saudi Arabia and quietly continued to support Islamic radicalism back in India. There are some two million Indian expatriates working in Saudi Arabia, which is the largest national contingent in the huge foreign work force there. Most of these Indians are Moslems and Moslem clerics constantly try to convert non-Moslem Indian workers.

Indian counter-terrorism investigators have found a lot of the money for terrorist operations in India is coming from Saudi Arabia or Pakistan via Saudi Arabia. India has complained to Saudi Arabia about this and the two countries have agreed to cooperate on suppressing Islamic terrorism among Indian Moslems in Saudi Arabia. Two years ago the two countries signed an extradition treaty and made it easier for intelligence agencies from both nations to cooperate.

But there are still problems, the biggest one being that Saudi Arabia is full of Islamic radicals who are not doing anything illegal (according to Saudi law) and can support Islamic radicals in other countries. The Saudis try and curb support for Islamic terrorists, but for them it's often hard to tell the difference between Islamic radicals and Islamic terrorists. Another problem is that Indian Moslems in Saudi Arabia are difficult for Saudi police to keep tabs on because of language and cultural differences.

What the Saudi-Indian intelligence cooperation has revealed is that there are a lot more Indian Moslems in India and Saudi Arabia talking about carrying out terrorist acts that are actually doing it. The Saudis will just expel Indians found to be active in Islamic terrorist groups. When these guys arrive back in India they are arrested and questioned until it is certain they are guilty (in which case they are prosecuted) or innocent (and released). A growing number of young Indian Moslems are becoming radicalized, and keeping tabs on all of them, even though most will never commit violence, is proving to be a huge task.

Saudi king vowed to obtain nuclear bomb after Iran

Former U.S. official publicly confirms Saudi pledge, which would destroy nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Former senior U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross confirmed for the first time on Tuesday night that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has explicitly warned the U.S. that if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia will seek to do so as well.

“If they get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons,” Abdullah told Ross during a meeting between the two in April 2009. Ross said he responded to the King’s assertion with a lengthy appeal against nuclear proliferation, but after hearing him out, the king responded by repeating the same line: “If they get nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons.”

Ross’ on-the-record confirmation of Abdullah’s threat was made in a joint public appearance with Washington Institute researcher David Makovsky at New York’s 92nd Street Y. The two co-authored a book on the Middle East peace process entitled Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.

Ross’ direct quote of the Saudi king appears to be the first public confirmation of the Saudi position and the threat of a Middle East nuclear arms race if Tehran acquires a nuclear bomb. It was reported previously, though not confirmed, that Abdullah had made a similar assertion in his February 2007 summit in Riyadh with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In June 2011, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, warned senior NATO military officials that the existence of an Iranian bomb "would compel Saudi Arabia...to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences."

In February of this year, the London Times quoted a “senior Saudi official” as saying that Riyadh would launch a “twin-track nuclear weapons program” should Tehran realize its ambition of obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The Saudi threat is one of the prime factors motivating Washington’s campaign to stop Tehran’s nuclear program. Extending the non-proliferation regime is one of U.S. President Barak Obama’s most cherished foreign policy and national security goals, analysts in New York said Tuesday night.

Ross said that while it would be “unrealistic” to expect serious progress in the nuclear talks with Iran after only two rounds of negotiations, the U.S. and the other P5+1 countries should set a deadline for the conclusion of diplomatic contacts – and make Tehran aware of it.

He added that recent public statements, including those made by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, about the U.S. being “militarily ready” for an attack on Iran “are not coincidental” and are aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran. According to Ross, Iran is much more concerned about an American military attack than an Israeli one because “an Israeli attack is not regime-threatening, while an American attack is.”

Ross also laid out a four-point plan for resolving the situation in Syria and reaching a “tipping point” that would see the ouster of President Assad. Ross said the Russians need to be brought on board to participate in the effort; the Alawites must be assured that there will be no acts of revenge by the Sunnis in a post-Assad era; the opposition Syrian National Council should be recognized as the alternative to the regime; and the U.S., together with Turkey and NATO, should set up “safe haven” areas in northern Syria.

Both Ross and Makovsky appeared to be impressed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement on Tuesday to the INSS think tank that his aim is to prevent the establishment of a binational state, saying this new formula gives rise to optimism that Netanyahu will use his 94-seat majority in the Knesset to advance the peace process.

Ross, who resigned at the end of the year from his position in the Obama administration’s National Security Council, lavished praise on the president’s “unprecedented support” for Israel’s security. Israel’s security is “inviolable” in Obama’s eyes, he said, adding that as someone who has worked with five previous U.S. administrations, he is of the opinion that Obama’s level of support and cooperation with Israel is “better than all of his predecessors.”

Gunfights in Saudi Oil-Rich Province Show Spread of Iran Political Tension

Armored anti-riot vehicles cluster outside the police station in Awwamiya in Saudi Arabia’s oil- producing eastern region, where unrest is turning violent.

“We have enough police force to deal with any criminal or prohibited situation,” says Brigadier-General Yousef al-Qahtani as he drives through the town. In nearby al-Qatif, graffiti scrawled on a cemetery wall criticizes the Al Saud family, founders of the kingdom eight decades ago, and calls for the removal of their fellow Sunni Muslim monarchs in Bahrain. Black Shiite flags adorn religious centers in the back-alleys.

                  

Clashes between police and armed Shiite protesters in the two towns have intensified since October, when 11 police were injured in an attack. Since then, seven Shiites have been killed by security forces, according to figures provided by Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights First Society.

It’s in such places that tensions between the Gulf’s Sunni nations and Shiite-led Iran may spark violence inside Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter. Shiites here have cultural and family ties with Iran, and also with Bahrain, where Saudi troops helped crush Shiite-led protests that broke out a year ago today. Saudi authorities accuse Iran, which is under growing western pressure to back down over its nuclear program, of stirring up unrest in both cases.

‘Much Bigger Fire’

“This is another one of those possible flashpoints in the region that could become a much bigger fire if it is not contained early on,” Paul Sullivan, a political scientist specializing in Middle East security at Georgetown University in Washington, said in an e-mail.

After two Shiites were shot dead in gun battles in Awwamiya and al-Qatif last week, the cost of Saudi Arabia’s credit default swaps jumped 2 percent to 131.8, before retreating to 129.2 yesterday. They reached a two-and-a-half- year high last month as Iranian threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, in response to a planned western oil embargo, stoked concerns of conflict in a region that supplies a fifth of the world’s crude.

Most of that comes from Saudi Arabia, and the biggest Saudi oil fields are in the Eastern Province, home to most of the Saudi Shiite population. It’s the second-largest Shiite community in the Gulf after Iraq’s, comprising between 10 and 15 percent of the total of 19 million Saudi nationals, according to the U.S. State Department.

Iran denies charges of interference by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, and accuses their Sunni rulers of discriminating against Shiites.

Holy Sites

In Bahrain, linked to eastern Saudi Arabia’s Shiite regions by a 16-mile (26-kilometer) causeway, protests have also been escalating, in the run-up to today’s anniversary.

Yesterday, Shiite-led opposition groups accused the security forces of attacking peaceful demonstrations with teargas and stun grenades, while the Interior Ministry said protesters hurled rocks and set fire to private property. Twenty-five people were arrested early today on their way to a rally and police stormed houses suspected of harboring protesters, said Mohammed al-Maskati, president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

Saudi Arabia largely escaped the unrest that spread across the Arab world last year, though there were protests in Awwamiya, al-Qatif and other eastern towns. Shiite cleric Tawfiq al-Amir was arrested after he called for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran date back to Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused Saudi rulers of corruption and argued that the holy sites of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia shouldn’t be under a single country’s guardianship. In December, the U.S. agreed to sell Saudi Arabia 84 F-15 fighter jets in a $29.4 billion deal seen as bolstering defenses against Iran.

‘Card They Can Use’

“To ask if Iran has an interest in destabilizing Saudi Arabia, yes they do,” said Khalid al-Dakhil, a political science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, in a phone interview. “It is a card they can use to pressure the Saudis.”

In al-Qatif, the graffiti shows Shiite resentment at their perceived exclusion from the country’s wealth. “Where is the oil money?” one slogan asks. Smashed street lights and road signs attest to recent violence in the Gulf city, where wooden dhow boats anchor and families picnic as vehicles carrying riot police speed along the coast road.

The U.S. State Department noted in a human-rights report on Saudi Arabia published in 2009 that Shiites in the kingdom face “significant political, economic, legal, social and religious discrimination condoned by the government.”

Job Discrimination

Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh described practices during the Ashoura festival, a day of mourning for Shiite Muslims, as “against Islamic law” in an article published in Al-Watan newspaper on Dec. 3.

Seventy-four students, mainly Shiites, from the Jubail Industrial College north of al-Qatif called on the government to penalize companies that discriminate in hiring, Safwa News reported on Feb. 3. Their petition criticized Saudi Arabian Mining Co., the kingdom’s largest miner, for excluding 60 Shiite students from an employment program. Calls to the company’s communications office weren’t answered yesterday.

Shiite leaders held meetings with the late King Fahd in 1993 and were promised measures to address the region’s grievances. The Eastern Province is benefitting from King Abdullah’s $130 billion spending pledges last year, including a new stadium and roads in Awwamiya.

“The majority of people in Qatif, while they do have grievances and quite legitimate demands, they don’t believe it is the right way to alleviate their grievances through violence,” al-Dakhil said.

First Shootings

Violence, though, has been increasing since October when security forces were fired upon from side streets of Awwamiya. Gun battles between police and demonstrators broke out there and in Qatif on Feb. 9 and 10.

“We never experienced shooting at the police before,” Colonel Abdullah Aseeri, the police chief of al-Qatif, said in an interview. Brigadier General Yousef, an almost 30-year veteran with the Interior Ministry, said the use of weapons and “endangering the lives and safety of citizens is a red line.”

Security forces are displaying more restraint than they have in the past in their response to protests, said Ibrahim al- Mugaiteeb, president of the Human Rights First Society. “A lot of demonstrations happen without a police crackdown,” he said.

Loyalty Pledge

A delegation of Shiite Muslim scholars and clerics from al- Qatif condemned clashes in November that left four people dead and nine injured, Al-Yaum newspaper reported. They also pledged loyalty to the Al Saud leadership.

Such community elders, seeking to soothe tensions, don’t have the traction they used to have, said Tawfiq al-Saif, a prominent Shiite cleric. Young Saudi Shiites, like their contemporaries elsewhere in the Arab world, are demanding change, he said.

“There is the sense of being marginalized in the country among the Shiite young,” al-Saif said. “The younger generation feels that it is no longer the role of the leaders or elders to solve their problems. People want promises fulfilled.”