I found it interesting that Apex Mayor Pro Tem Gene Schulze is spearheading an effort to bring a 9/11 memorial to Apex. On February 15, 2011, Schulze was instrumental in persuading his colleagues on the Town Council to approve a huge new gasoline tank on behalf of the Motiva Enterprises facility on Ten Ten Road. Schulze knew Motiva to be half-owned by the Saudi government’s Aramco but still pushed for the project over the opposition of hundreds of Apex and Cary residents.

As leaked U.S. State Department wires demonstrate, the Saudi’s own Ministry of the Interior has made claims that Aramco is tied closely to al-Qaeda. Two former U.S. senators have submitted court documents that state the Saudi government had a substantial and direct role in the 9/11 attacks on our country. Several reputable newspapers report that an Aramco executive was a contact for Mohamed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, before he mysteriously left his Florida home in August 2001. The list of connections between Saudi oil and al-Qaeda goes on.

Saudi oil money also funds the spread of Salafism, an extreme and intolerant form of Islam, through a comprehensive network of religious institutions. These are the bedrocks of jihad and Islamic terrorists’ efforts to kill innocent civilians and undermine our way of life.

I do not question the merit of the memorial. I do not question Schulze’s patriotism. But I do think the public’s attention should be brought to the inconsistencies of its elected officials.

Andrew J. Taylor

Cary