Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State enforce the same Islamic law. Saudi Arabia has spent uncounted billions spreading around the world the understanding of Islam that the Islamic State teaches. Most Western authorities and counterterror analysts assume that if Muslims are not active members of jihad groups, that they reject jihad violence and are “moderate” Western-oriented pluralists. This is not necessarily so.
“Iraq expels Saudi ambassador for refusing to denounce cousin who died fighting for Isis,” by Bethan McKernan, Independent, September 7, 2016:
Iraq has expelled its first Saudi Arabian ambassador in a quarter of a century over his refusal to condemn his cousin, who has died while fighting for extremist group Isis.
Abdel-Salaam Al-Subhan was killed two weeks ago in fighting near Mosul, authorities said.
Ambassador Thamer Al-Subhan allegedly refused to denounce the actions of his cousin in joining the terror organisation, which still claims parts of northern Iraq as part of its territory.
Graphic photos allegedly of the body of the dead man appeared on social media, but could not be immediately verified.
The incident, which came on top of apparent claims that Shia militias fighting Isis were causing sectarian divisions in Iraq, and were plotting to assassinate him, led to a formal request from the Iraqi government to Riyadh to remove Al-Subhan from his post.
Al-Sabhan, appointed last year, was the first Saudi ambassador to be posted to Iraq for 25 years. Riyadh closed its embassy in the country in 1990, after former president Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Relations had remained strained since….