They’re going through gallons of whitewash at the Washington Post today. Here we have an article by “Saudi oil and security analyst” Nawaf Obaid, saying the Saudis are being unfairly “bashed” (the word people use when they want to deligitimize the opponent’s arguments) for supporting terrorism: The Saudis’ Fight Too. Here’s a typical spin-quote:

A key subcommittee of this group monitors the content of Saudi religious materials distributed abroad, ensuring an end to the propagation of extremist views that have emanated from the kingdom in the past. Much of this inflammatory material was prepared by mid-level religious scholars and exported without government oversight. The new group, which reports directly to the minister of religious affairs, will make certain that religious materials heed official calls for moderation. The subcommittee will also oversee the appointment of clerics working at Saudi-funded mosques abroad, ensuring that they too abide by these rules.

R-i-i-i-ght. Mid-level religious scholars without government oversight have been been running a campaign for at least two decades to spread Wahhabi Islam—in their own words—around the world.

The concept of spreading Islam throughout the world is a fundamental pillar of the Saudi education system, as the following principles from the document by the Higher Committee for Educational Policy indicate:”The purpose of education is to understand Islam in a proper and complete manner, to implement and spread the Muslim faith, to provide a student with Islamic values, and teachings.”[7]The document discusses the importance of “providing the individual with the necessary ideas, consciousness and abilities to preach the message of Islam.”[8]Another concept within the Saudi education system is “widening the horizons of the thinking of the students by acquainting them with various countries of the world … and in attending to the duty of spreading its [Islam’s] message…”[9] In order to successfully spread Islam, students are taught ” … at least one of the living languages in addition to their original language to enable them to acquire knowledge … [to] transmit our Saudi knowledge … to other communities and participate in the spreading of Islam.”[10]

Educating students in “the spirit of Islamic struggle” is another common theme in the Saudi education system, as the following principles indicate: “Striving and fighting for the sake of Allah is a prescribed duty, a followed tradition and an existing necessity. This spirit of striving will remain in force until the Day of Judgment.”[11] This is done by “teaching history in a systematic way, deriving crucial lessons from it and explaining the Islamic points of view,” highlighting the glorious stances in the history of Islam and the civilization of its people, “so as to be an example to be followed by our present Muslim generation.”[12]”Awakening the spirit of Islamic struggle to resist our enemies, restore our rights and glories, and perform our duties towards the Islamic message”[13] is a general theme students are expected to learn.This in effect will lead to “prompting his [the student’s] zeal for the restoration of the glories of his Muslim nation … and for the resumption of the march along the path of glory and honor.”