According to this story, Al Qaeda is funded by about a dozen individuals, mostly Saudis.

Not to worry, though–they’re our allies.

The administration does not plan to confront Saudi Arabia with the new information. But officials said the United States plans to first form a coalition that will ensure that Europe will be off-limits to Saudi financing.

On Friday, the Washington Post said Al Qaida has relied on human couriers to fly cash from Saudi Arabia to agents around the world. The newspaper said U.S. intelligence followed the couriers and helped identify the money trail.

“In the next few weeks, you will hear cries of pain, mostly from Saudi Arabia,” the senior official was quoted by the Post as saying. “If the Saudis don’t take action against these people, we will at least make sure they cannot travel outside their home country and cannot do business as usual around the world.”

Gee, wasn’t it some American president who a little over a year ago said something like:

“We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these terrible acts and those who harbor them…”

I guess he forgot the little escape clause “…unless they’re our ‘allies’ and have a lot of oil.”