It is altogether fitting that on the 19th anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon a Federal Magistrate has ordered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to produce 24 current and former officials for deposition by attorneys representing survivors and families of the 9/11 attacks. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn issued the order compelling the Saudis to produce the witnesses.
Among those ordered to testify is Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, who was Saudi Ambassador to the United States at the time of the attacks. Bandar's daughter is the current Saudi Ambassador in Washington. The Magistrate Judge included Bandar and his former embassy chief of staff Ahmed al-Qattan on the list of Saudis to be depositioned, because there is evidence in still-classified documents showing that both men were aware of the activities of two Saudi diplomats on the west coast who were aiding two of the 9/11 hijackers from the moment they arrived in the United States from Malaysia in 2000.
This is a dramatic development, perhaps the most important breakthrough in the case since the July 2016 declassification of the 28-page chapter from the original Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11. That chapter was withheld from the public by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama until a pressure campaign, led by the families and survivors and Representative Walter Jones (R-NC) forced the release. It detailed the role of Saudi officials, including diplomats and security personnel close to Bandar in providing material support to the two west coast hijackers.
A 2012 FBI document partially declassified through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Florida Bulldog online news organization revealed that an official of the Saudi embassy in Washington was directing two other west coast Saudi officials to support the two hijackers. The name of that embassy official, which was under seal, was inadvertently released in an FBI affidavit last year. That official, Mussaed al-Jarrah, was a Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs official with oversight over Saudi religious officials operating in the US with diplomatic credentials.
This was indeed long-overdue and any effort to bring any of them Saudi perpetrators to true justice is most-welcomed. However the skeptic in me raises the suspicion/question that how much of it has to do with the Trump admin’s ongoing pivot to the Arab world’s recognition of Israel? The timing is very ‘special’ and I would like to know why this important development did not happen a year or two years ago?
I hope the Trump admin would consider doing some kind of justice with regards to Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislane Maxwell in coming days too.
I am sure the Khashoggi killers will deliver
James
I fully agree.
US discredited herself when her courts passed judgments against Iran for attacks on US on 9/11/2001.
I read, years ago, on the public Internet, that on and after those attacks on US, there were days of celebrations in UAE cities. Young female students coming to class and giggling about those attacks.
Yet, George Bush went to UAE to harangue Iran, in the streets of her capital city did take place a spontaneous vigil for the dead of those attacks.
I surmise that US policy is so informed by the religious sentiments of Protestanism that it recognizes either Honor nor Reputation.
UAE is now untouchable due to recent formal recognition of Israel.
Babak,
It appears to me that Bone Saw had an Imam run a notion of the pole to see who would salute it the other day. It did not go well. Wrong venue, I imagine. He should limit this to his corporate board rooms.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/09/06/imam-of-meccas-grand-mosque-hints-at-normalization-with-israel-in-friday-sermon/
If I may ask, what’s your take on this?
babak
Keep in mind that james is an ignorant and naive leftist coffee house musician from BC.
Mark Logan
A gimmick by Saudis to keep the Faranji salviating.
James
This Love spans the WASP culture continent (a.k.a. the English- Speaking People idea of Churchill and not just US.
Look at Canada, Harper’s Government, and Iran.
Colonel,
Terrorism analyst Gina Bennett’s 1993 warning is finally declassified and released.
http://www.nationalsecuritymom.com/3/WanderingMujahidin.pdf
1999 Guardian article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/17/yemen.islam
A brief bio on Bennett
http://nationalsecuritymom.com/
Worthwhile reading
https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/index.htm
j et all
Just remember “it ain’t necessarily so …”
Babak
Thank you, I had thought it head-scratchingly naive.’For foreign consumption’ explains it.