A former al-Qaeda fighter accuses a Saudi charity (Bosnian war Mujahideen who settled in Bosnia)

DOBOJ, Bosnia - For years, Saudi Arabia flatly denied it had provided money and logistical support for Islamist militant groups that attacked Western targets.

But that assertion is disputed by a former al-Qaeda commander who testified in a United Nations war-crimes trial that his unit was funded by the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a government charity.

Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad, the former al-Qaeda fighter, gave the same account to The Inquirer in an interview in this struggling city in the central Balkans.

"Because it was the biggest charity, [the commission] helped the mujaheddin the most," Hamad said, adding that it had provided "everything a person needed to exist."

Hamad, 37, is expected to be called as a witness in a lawsuit filed by Cozen O'Connor alleging that Saudi Arabia and affiliated charities financed al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups as they geared up for the 9/11 attacks.

During the Balkans war, from 1992 to 1995, jihadists from North Africa and the Middle East were accused of atrocities against indigenous Serbs and Croatians.

Hamad admits having done "bad things" as an al-Qaeda fighter, and he is serving a 10-year sentence in a Bosnian jail for his role in a 1997 Mostar bombing.

Yet Hamad's account of his time in the Balkans went largely uncontroverted during the U.N. trial, where he was a prosecution witness.

He contends that the Saudi High Commission, an agency of the Saudi government, and other Islamic charities supported al-Qaeda-led units that committed atrocities. Mujaheddin units, he said, recruited fighters, prepared for battle, and financed their operations in the Balkans.

He said the Saudi High Commission had poured tens of millions of dollars into mujaheddin units led by al-Qaeda operatives who fought with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Money intended for humanitarian relief bought weapons and other military supplies.

The charities also provided false identification, employment papers, diplomatic plates and vehicles that permitted Islamic fighters to enter the country and pass easily through military checkpoints, Hamad said.

Several charity offices, including those of the Saudi High Commission, were led by former mujaheddin or al-Qaeda members, at least one of whom trained with Hamad in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan, he said.

Like other al-Qaeda fighters, Hamad said, he was an employee of the Saudi High Commission for a time and traveled through the war zone in commission vehicles with diplomatic plates.

This whole article simply confirms the joke that the world, specially the US population, buys wholesale.
The assumption is that all countries play by the same rules, are honest and forthright, and say what they mean.

Wrong.

It is not that hard to confirm that Saudi Arabia has always funded terrorist groups under the guise of "charities". The odd thing is that the $billions spent over the years seem to have zero effect on the plight of the charity recipients, but the terrorist groups always have enough funds to travel, communicate, buy weapons of all sizes and descriptions, and fund travel for thousands of terrorists who circulate world-wide full time.

That the US consumer is funding most of that ill-targeted money seems to be lost on the "reality obsessed" American public.

No, I don't know how much clearer it can be, or what it would take to slap the "...hysterical, insecure, ignorant, sheeplike masses, a/k/a “the American people” into some kind of rational consciousness.

From Ali Hamad a year ago:

Bosnia still protects Al-Qa’idah

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - June 30, 2007 Saturday

Belgrade, 30 June: Former Al-Qa’idah officer Ali Hamad [as transcribed] has said that the Bosnia-Hercegovina state still protects members of Al-Qa’idah, adding that members of this terrorist organization are also to be found in Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija] where they are supported by ethnic Albanians.

In an interview with [Belgrade-based] Glas javnosti, Hamad said that some of his former colleagues from Al-Qa’idah occasionally visit Bosnia-Hercegovina, adding that the state still protected them.

“I also have a dispute with this state, because I claim that they exist, but they try to deny it. Al-Qa’idah has its presence here, but I do not know exactly how many people it has. It is even present across Europe,” Hamad said.

He said that Al-Qa’idah had established control over Europe via Bosnia-Hercegovina, assessing that Spain and Italy would soon suffer a terrorist attack similar to what had happened in the United States.

“These days, Al-Qa’idah believes it is attacked by the whole world. They may even do something here in Bosnia as an act of vengeance. Had Al-Qa’idah’s people not sheltered and enjoyed protection here, they would have surely not had such a large number of people in Europe,” Hamad said.

He said that, according to his knowledge, Al-Qa’idah, after Bosnia, had the largest number of its people in Kosmet where Albanians supported them.

“They especially hate the Serbs. In some FBI reports, it has been demonstrated that Al-Qa’idah has its people in Kosovo, and that domestic people from Kosovo are among them. I believe that [training] camps also exist, because where Al-Qa’idah plants its people, there must be camps, too,” Hamad said.

Speaking about the murder of Serbs and other non-Muslims in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Hamad said that the mujahidin had used to kill using bullets, knives, strangling wires, chainsaws, axes, small knives, etc.

He cited an example of the murder of a Croat boy in Guca village near Travnik whose head had been cut off in front of his father. The father had to watch all this, and then he was himself killed along with 20 other civilians from the village.

“This man cried, sought help, begged, and when he saw them cutting his son’s neck he turned his head away, but he was forced to watch. They held him, opened his eyes and held him,” Hamad said.

Hamad said that he would rather hang himself than stay to live in Zenica, adding that he must forget Bosnia. He also said that he was currently trying to find a place somewhere in the West via US authorities and the Hague tribunal.

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