WikiLeaks reveals Saudi corruption: Pundit

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ali Al Ahmed, director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs (IGA) from Washington, to get his take on the release of 600,000 pages of Saudi diplomatic papers by the WikiLeaks.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The cables have not been fully translated from Arabic, but based on Assange’s statement, one could make predictions about what some of them are about. What do you expect to find out about Riyadh’s policies from among the whole bunch of the leaks?

Al-Ahmed: I found out about the leaks about five weeks ago that an individual hacker has them. And now I reviewed probably a few dozens of these documents and I found what I expect support for terrorism, corruption and intervention in other countries’ internal affairs. And also it was interesting, we will see hopefully in these days or weeks names of American officials and American organizations, think tanks who have received funding from the Saudi government. So, this could end up being very big news in Washington because it will expose those people who have been receiving a large amount of money from the Saudi government.

Press TV: And Assange’s statement refers to the intrigues and tactics used by the Saudis to buy influence in the region. How surprised were you about these revelations?

Al-Ahmed: I was not surprised. One of the documents for example refers to the name of an intelligence operative in Bahrain who is disguised as a diplomat. It also reveals that the Saudi government was interested in what is called “people embracing Shia Islam in the Comoros Islands,” and son of a Saudi minister’s been issued a diplomatic passport, so he can continue studies in the United States. So, you are looking at various and different document that are revealing a huge amount of corruption and support for terrorism. One the documents shows that Saudis treated and brought Jalaluddin Haqqani, the head of Haqqani network which is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, the Saudi government brought him to Riyadh and treated him in its hospital secretly. So, this is a challenge for the United States. I hope reporters will ask the United States, why don’t you list Saudi Arabia as state sponsor of terrorism when they supported the leader of an organization that you call it terrorist, an organization that killed American soldiers and of course many Afghan civilians.

ABN/NN

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