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Saudi takes rare turn on congressional hot seat

Riyadh's support for extremist clerics is under scrutiny as Congress debates whether to allow terror victims to sue the kingdom.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 01: U.S. Rep.  Ted Poe (R-TX) (C), speaks about the sex slave industry while flanked by (L-R), U.S. Rep.  Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) (R) and U.S. Rep.  Kristi Noem (R-SD) during a news conference on Capitol Hill, August 1, 2013 in Washington, DC. The bi partisan members of Congress discussed a plan to end the sex trafficking trade in the United States.  (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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Fifteen years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Congress finally addressed the Wahhabi elephant in the room.

At a fiery House Foreign Affairs panel hearing May 24, members of both parties took turns accusing one of America's closest Mideast allies of being a front of extremism. Lawmakers acknowledged that Saudi Arabia has made great strides in cracking down on terrorism finance since 2001, but argued that its support for the propagation of radical Islam has fueled religious violence around the world.

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