Saturday, January 01, 2005

SUVs make Osama smile.

The New York Times decides that Saudi financing of terrorism is a serious threat after all, but only because Americans drive SUVs.

The next time you consider the purchase of a family car that matches satisfying heft with infinitesimal mileage per gallon, you might want to think about where some of that gas money will ultimately be going. Part of the price of every extra gallon helps, albeit indirectly, to finance mosques and religious schools all over the world that spread a fanatical variant of Islam that sees legitimacy in terrorist attacks. This financing, amounting to billions of dollars a year, comes from the government and private charities of Saudi Arabia, a country that is now taking in roughly $80 billion a year from oil exports.

You know, I keep thinking about this editorial, and I keep asking myself why the NY Times would run it. There's nothing new here. All I can think of is that they're trying to tell people that by driving SUVs they're helping finance terrorism. But Arianna Huffington was saying that two years ago.

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