Rep Tulsi Gabbard discusses role of Saudi Arabia as #1 promoter of radical Islamic extremism

Interviewed on CNN (1/8/16)by Wolf Blitzer, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard responded to Blitzer’s question, “It appears to me the Saudis have lost a lot of confidence in the U.S. right now. Have you heard that?” by saying, “I’ve read reports of that and different analyses of it, but I think we should ask the reverse question: What is the United States doing to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for being the number one promoter of radical Islamic extremism, not only in their own country but around the world, spending hundreds of billions of dollars in funding madrasas in schools, and books and media outreach to try to influence people towards this ideology that’s fueling ISIS, fueling al-Qaeda, what to speak of the direct and indirect support that Saudi Arabia and some of these Gulf countries give to the enemy that we’re supposed to be fighting and defeating?”

Tulsi added, “So I think it’s an important time and question for us, in the United States, to ask: Is Saudi Arabia willing to be our ally? And if they are, then they need to stop this funding, stop this support of Islamic extremists, stop promoting that ideology and stand with us and focus on defeating our enemy, ISIS.”

Blitzer responded, “Hundreds of billions of dollars?”

Tulsi replied, “Hundreds of billions of dollars funding schools, building schools, paying extremist imams to teach this radical Islamic ideology, paying for media outreach, printing of books and textbooks--all around the world.”

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