More than 3,000 relatives of 9/11 victims are calling on Trump and Kamala to “pledge” to oppose any Middle East peace deal with Saudi Arabia unless it acknowledges its involvement in the terrorist attacks.
The 9/11 Justice group, formed in 2022 on behalf of victims’ families and which has been lobbying Washington to declassify previously unreleased documents from the investigation into the attack, wrote letters to both Donald Trump I like Kamala Harris inviting them to meet at Ground Zero – a memorial in New York to the victims – on the anniversary, which falls a day before the two candidates face off in the presidential debate.
The Saudi government’s involvement in al-Qaeda attacks, after two decades, has yet to be fully defined; especially since of the 19 al-Qaeda terrorists involved, 15 were Saudi nationals. Shortly after the attack, the Saudi ambassador to the United States for 22 years, Prince Bandar bin Sultanand his wife were deported after it was discovered they had provided money to the spouse of a Saudi student suspected of being in contact with two of the kidnappers who were living in California, Nawaf al-Hazmi And Khalid al-Mihdhar.
After the attack, in December 2002, a joint Senate-House committee released its findings on 9/11, which included evidence of possible links between Saudi Arabia and 15 Saudis involved in the Pentagon and Twin Towers attacks. Due to national security concerns, the “28 pages” detailing sensitive information about evidence that the kidnappers were in contact with and receiving support from people likely connected to the Saudi government were not released until 2016.
In fact, the document actually contains 29 pages of documents, plus a letter from the then CIA director, Georges TenetThe letter stated that some of the kidnappers were “in contact with and receiving support or assistance from individuals who may be linked to the Saudi government.” The document also added that there may be “possible links of the Saudi government to terrorists and terrorist groups.”
The 28-page document revealed that Abu Zubaydah (a high-ranking al-Qaeda terrorist captured during the invasion of Afghanistan) had “unlisted private phone numbers” in his phone book from the private residence of the Saudi ambassador to the United StatesPrince Bandar in Colorado and his bodyguard in Washington,” according to the Wilson Center.
After its publication in 2016, the then Saudi ambassador, Abdullah al-Saudsaid the CIA, FBI and other relevant agencies had investigated its contents and confirmed that neither Saudi Arabia, nor any senior official, nor any person acting on behalf of Riyadh provided no support for the attacks.
His statement referred to the 9/11 Commission, which in 2004 found no evidence that Riyadh “was involved as an institution or that any of its senior officials individually funded al-Qaeda,” according to the Wilson Center. That is why the Saudi government never opposed the release of the “28 pages.”
However, a Saudi official, Fahad al-ThumairyAn employee of the Islamic Affairs Ministry and imam of a Saudi-built mosque in Los Angeles, remained a person of interest after the FBI failed to verify that he provided any assistance to two kidnappers during his interview in Saudi Arabia after his leave from the United States.
In 2015, U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Chuck Schumer introduced a bipartisan bill known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allows individuals to hold foreign governments accountable in U.S. courts for supporting terrorist attacks on American soil, which was approved in 2016, the only bill he has vetoed in his eight years as president. Barack Obama.
In 2017, after the adoption of Resolution 610, the Senate called for the release of all possible information on the September 11 attacks. That same year, several families of victims They sued Saudi Arabia for up to $1 billion in compensation.with the support of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
Both Trump and President Joe Biden have promoted a security agreement that would normalize relations between Israel, Morocco, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, through the Abraham Accords signed in 2020.
This would allow for civilian nuclear cooperation and defense guarantees between Riyadh and Jerusalem – a longtime U.S. ally – to counter Iran. However, diplomatic relations between the Saudi kingdom and Israel have been suspended due to the October 7 attack. Saudi leaders have demonstrated Israel’s acceptance of the two-state solution in Palestine.
Diplomatic relations
More recently, in June, a video first released by CBS News of Omar al-Bayoumi and other evidence – still classified – from his London apartment, obtained by the US government through the Metropolitan Police, again links Riyadh to the attacks. According to the FBI, al-Bayoumi He was a Saudi intelligence agent. who allegedly helped kidnappers in California during a reconnaissance mission in 1999.
The video features his photos of Washington monuments and buildings, focusing on entrances, exits and security checkpoints at the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument and other locations. The release of the images prompted 9/11 Justice to state that “attention must remain focused on the Saudi government’s complicity in these atrocious acts. The time has finally come for Saudi Arabia to be held accountable.”
The group says that two decades later, the U.S. government continues to “literally cover up information related to Saudi involvement” in terrorist attacks. This, in turn, undermines the government’s ability to “deter future acts of terrorism and hold those responsible accountable,” ultimately depriving victims’ families of evidence useful in their lawsuits against Saudi Arabia.
FBI Director, Christopher Wrayin August 2022, explained that he feared that al-Qaeda would “reconstitute itself” and that the Islamic State takes advantage of “the deterioration of the security situation, and that terrorists are inspired by what they see there”increasing concerns about possible attacks on U.S. soil.
