U.S. Allies That Nurture Islamic Extremism

Fear of and the actions of Islamic extremists are dominating the news of late after the terror attacks in Paris last week.  The only think that made the Paris attacks unique is that the occurred in a modern western nation.  Horrors are being committed by Islamic extremists all around the globe.  Worse yet, countries that are putative U.S. allies and which receive billions in U.S. foreign aid are nurturing the extremists.  Why are we indirectly funding our enemies?  A column in the New York Times looks at some of these other atrocities and our "allies" who are allowing extremism to flourish.  Here are excerpts:

As one group of Islamic militants was waging war in Paris, another was slaughtering vast numbers of civilians in Baga in northern Nigeria — as many as 2,000, according to Amnesty International; “only” 150, according to the Nigerian government.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda has blown up scores of people in Yemen, and the Pakistan Taliban murdered 150 people at a school. Libyan extremists blew up a Foreign Ministry building last month because an official wished people “Merry Christmas.”

These spasms of terrorism cry out for a conversation among Muslims about faith and tolerance. 

Saudi Arabia could play a leadership role in Islam. In the mid-20th century, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud overcame traditionalists who opposed cars, radio and the telegraph as non-Islamic by having the Koran read aloud on the radio.

Yet since then Saudi elites have retreated, sipping whiskey at private parties while deferring publicly to the traditionalists. Saudi Arabia does not allow Christian churches and sometimes has confiscated Bibles. (I once smuggled in a Bible to see what would happen if I were caught; Saudi customs officials searched the wrong bag.) The kingdom oppresses Shiites, funds extremist Wahhabi madrasas across the Islamic world and last month referred two women to its antiterrorism courts — for driving cars.

To be blunt, Saudi Arabia legitimizes Islamic fundamentalism and intolerance.

Pakistani officials play a similar game. Pakistan was once a tolerant country whose first foreign minister was a member of the Ahmadi sect. Now Ahmadis are persecuted, and a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, is on death row in a preposterous blasphemy case after drinking water said to be for Muslims only.

Republicans have been hounding President Obama for not sending a top official to Paris. They’re right. But let’s engage in more than symbolism and actually support the moderates in the Islamic world who are pushing for change — and, sometimes, being flogged for it. By our “allies.”

The column also mentions Saudi liberal, Raif Badawi, who our supposed Saudi allies sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam.”  The money and support to these nations needs to stop until they cease supporting and legitimizing Islamic extremists.