A senior Saudi preacher has urged Saudi youth to follow their minds and not their hearts by staying away from the insurgency in Iraq.
Sheik Safar bin Abdel Rahman al-Hawali was quoted Wednesday by the Saudi daily al-Yom as saying, "The Iraqi resistance does not need any help from outside and it is assuming its duty fully on behalf of the whole Arab nation." He warned that Saudis who go to Iraq might face the same fate as those who went to Afghanistan and were rounded up by U.S. forces, though some had nothing to do with the Taliban or the al-Qaida network. Hawali denied reports that he was supplying Iraqi insurgents with money and encouraging Saudis to join them. Iraqi official television has shown prisoners seized by U.S. and Iraqi forces saying they were Saudis and had received financial assistance from Hawali. |