Saudi Culture Exports Extremism, Former 9/11 Commissioner Says
- Roemer cites ‘glaring contrast’ with help uncovering plots
- Kingdom cites its ‘national priority’ to defeat terrorism
ormer congressman and 9/11 Commissioner Tim Roemer (D-IN) testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade Subcommittee holds a hearing on the U.S.-Saudi Arabia counterterrorism relationship in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill May 24, 2016 in Washington, DC.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesA former U.S. lawmaker who served on the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks said there’s a “glaring contrast” between Saudi Arabia’s high-level cooperation in uncovering terrorist plots and its “society and culture exporting extremism and intolerance.”
The kingdom produces a “disturbing number of recruits and supporters for terrorist groups around the world, including in Syria,” Timothy Roemer, a Democrat who represented Indiana in Congress from 1991 to 2003, told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing Tuesday on the “U.S.-Saudi Arabia Counterterrorism Relationship.”