9/11 families focus suits on Saudi ties

Unproven theory is that 2 officials aided al-Qaida

WASHINGTON—With Congress opening the way for the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, victims’ families are focusing on an unproven theory that a Saudi consular official in Los Angeles and a Saudi intelligence operative in San Diego directly assisted two of the 19 hijackers.

The alleged Southern California connection is the key to showing that Saudi Arabia financed Muslim extremists who played a direct role in supporting some of the hijackers, according to lawyers for the families. Classified data sought

The families contend that lower-level Saudi operatives in Southern California helped find housing for the two hijackers, both Saudi citizens, months before they muscled their way into the cockpit of an American Airlines jet that smashed into the north side of the Pentagon.

If a pending lawsuit is allowed to proceed, the families hope to find the evidence in thousands of classified FBI, CIA and Treasury Department documents that could be made public in federal court.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any direct or indirect support for alQaida, the terrorist group that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, or any foreknowledge or involvement in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

FBI and CIA reviews concluded that no senior Saudi officials were aware of the plot. The 9/11 Commission found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually” funded alQaida but left open the possibility that lower-ranking officials may have played a role. Allegations ‘ridiculous’

California is “an important part of the story,” said former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee and helped lead a 2002 congressional inquiry into the attacks. Graham has supported the families’ lawsuit.

“I hope that during the course of the case we will learn much more about the Saudi role,” he said.

The issue was revived after Congress passed a bill that allows the victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia for damages if it played any role in the plot. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.

Wednesday, Congress voted overwhelmingly to override a veto by President Barack Obama despite his warning that the law could put U.S. military and intelligence officials at risk overseas.

Eric Lewis, a lawyer for two Saudi charities that are also defendants in the lawsuit, said allegations that Saudi authorities supported al-Qaida and the 2001 attacks “strikes meas ridiculous” since the terrorist group founded by Osama bin Laden previously had targeted the kingdom.