Who financed Mumbai terror by Lashkar-e-Taibe?

Caution - it is one thing to say that some Saudis financed Lashkar e Taibe. It is another to say that the Saudi government is involved. Lashkar-e-Taibe was financed by charity fronts they set up in the United States and Britain. The ostensible purpose of these charities was "humanitarian aid." Many of the donors did not know that the money was going to Lashkar-e-Taibe, the group that carried out the Mumbai attacks. If the CIA knew, why didn't they ban charity contributions to Jamaat ud Dawa?

 

Ami Isserroff

 

 

Shady cash transfers link Saudi charities to Mumbai terror and French bank accounts to Arafat's graft.

In Muridke, Pakistan, there is a toney boarding school set in a neatly trimmed green campus that includes a farm, swimming pool, and even a small hospital. Indian authorities believe this bucolic facility is also the headquarters for the terrorists who carried out the Mumbai attacks.

The school is officially an educational and charitable arm of Jamaat ud Dawa, or JUD, a radical Islamic group that is legal in Pakistan. The campus was originally constructed in 2005 by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Islamic extremist group that American intelligence has tied to al-Qaeda, and that Pakistan outlawed in 2002 at the Americans' behest. A senior CIA analyst told Whistleblower that Jamaat ud Dawa is only an alias for the banned LeT.

A CIA source says the Agency has known for two years that the school was "funded by the Saudis and protected by the Pakistanis."

The same source says that the school is bankrolled by donations from Saudi Arabia, a disclosure that could complicate the U.S. relationship with one of its few allies in the region. The CIA has known for two years that the school—which teaches Wahhabism, the ultra-conservative strain of Islam practiced by the Saudi royal family--was "funded by the Saudis and protected by the Pakistanis."

The Saudis have told American counterparts that it is difficult for them to stop the flow of money to JUD since the funds are channeled through charitable organizations on both ends: donations collected by Saudi charities or mosques are sent to JUD's philanthropic arm in Pakistan. But U.S intelligence officials are skeptical. Although they concede the Saudis are too smart to directly fund the Pakistan militants, they also believe the Royal family could do much more to control the private donations that end up in the bank accounts of violent extremists.

Attempts to reach Saudi Arabian authorities for comment were unsuccessful. The embassy in Washington DC is closed for a week to observe the Muslim holiday of Eid el-Adha.

Cross posted: Israel News  Middle East Analysis