THE SAUDI TERROR CONNECTION STORIES JUST KEEP ON COMING:

As FBI agents in Chicago pursued an investigation into alleged terrorist financing in 1998, they ran across a curious money trail that soon led them into a diplomatic swamp. A local chemical firm that was suspected of laundering money for Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group, had received a $1.2 million cash infusion from the International Relief Organization, the U.S. branch of one of the world’s biggest Islamic charities. Determined to “follow the money,” they traced some of the charity’s funding to a surprising and sensitive source: the Saudi Embassy in Washington.

THE MONEY FLOW from the Saudis set off alarms in Washington. Investigators were told by top Justice officials to move carefully, according to sources familiar with the case. Some Justice higher-ups appeared worried that any inquiries into the operations of the Saudi Embassy could jeopardize U.S.-Saudi relations. “There was a concern about national security,” said one investigator. The agents did as they were told. A court affidavit spelling out $400,000 in money transfers to the organization was carefully edited—to omit any reference to the Saudi cash. Instead, the document referred blandly to funds from an unidentified “embassy of a foreign government.” The president of the chemical firm was later convicted of fraud. But charges were never filed against the Saudi-financed charity. Investigators complain they were actively discouraged by Justice Department brass from pursuing the group’s possible links to terrorism.

This just proves that softness on the Saudis precedes the current Administration, which is hardly news except maybe to Ted Rall. What’s interesting is that this stuff is coming out now.