WASHINGTON, Nov 19: A US government commission has launched an unprecedented attack on Saudi Arabia, blaming it for exporting a militant ideology and causing a “strategic threat” to US interests in the war against terrorism.

The unusually harsh attack was launched at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday evening and was described by some observers as so far the severest criticism of the Saudi government by a US government-run organisation.

“It is an ideology that is incompatible with the war on terrorism,” said Michael Young, chairman of the State Department’s Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The commission, established by Congress during the Clinton administration as a State Department body charged with monitoring religious rights, had also invited Saudi dissidents to the hearing titled: “Is Saudi Arabia a Strategic Threat: The Propagation of Intolerance.”