The good folks over at Jihad Watch have posted a very important story about the Saudi-controlled International Islamic Relief Organization, a terrorist NGO that funds Al Qaeda in Pakistan:
From Jihad Watch:
We consistently see the juxtaposition of armed jihad and social services in groups like Hamas and Hizballah, and other organizations in the Muslim world, because the Islamic tradition does not set off charitable work as strictly non-combatant in the way that is expected of the Red Cross, United Way, and other Western groups. Rather, Qur’an 9:60 includes those fighting “in the cause of Allah” as being eligible for zakat.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/06/shocker-saudi-charity-in-pakistan-accused-of-funding-al-qaeda.html
And from the original source, the UK Guardian (wouldn’t it be nice if the US news media conducted this type of investigative reporting???):
Saudi money and influence have attracted hostile scrutiny from western countries, particularly the US. Worries centre on a flood of charity donations, mainly earmarked for education, some of which finds their way into weapons and military training.
A senior western official in Islamabad said the main worry was Saudi funding for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Funding appeared to have stopped since the Mumbai attacks, he said, but the group continues to solicit private money from conservative Saudis under the guise of charitable donations.
The IIRO has also come under scrutiny. In 2009 the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, privately warned that US intelligence had discovered the IIRO and two other state-backed charities “continue to send money overseas and, at times, fund extremism overseas”, according to diplomatic cables released through WikiLeaks.
Files from Guantánamo Bay published this year show at least six detainees had been employed by IIRO, which US officials described as a “tier one terrorist NGO”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/29/saudi-charity-pakistan-extremism
